The Legend of Zelda: Legend's End
by Enterprise F
Summary: After emerging from the Twilight Realm, Link finds the Kingdom of Hyrule flooded and also ruled by evil. In this darkest of times, Link will need all of his skill, plus help from unexpected sources to restore the Kingdom of Hyrule, as well as destroy the evil pervading the land.
1. Chapter 1

Legal Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda is copyright Nintendo. I do not own it, Nintendo does. It and all of its characters are the property of Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto.

The Legend of Zelda: Legend's End

Chapter 1:

Link gazed out over the ocean in bewilderment and concern. What had happened to Hyrule? Was he even in Hyrule, or on Hylia? Thinking about it, he realized that he had to be on Hylia. He recognized the open-air atrium and coliseum structure of the Mirror Chamber. He gazed out over the sea and saw that there looked to be some ships off in the distance, with what looked to be islands, but he did not recognize the geography at all. It was as if the Arbiter's Grounds had been moved from the Gerudo Desert and dumped in the middle of a sea, or even the ocean.

He retreated back up to the Mirror Chamber and looked around it, just to make sure that he was, indeed, standing in the Arbiter's Grounds. He looked up at the top of the coliseum and recognized the spires on the top of the structure as being the shattered remains of the Sages' symbols. But why were all of them save one shattered? He quickly then thought about the Master Sword that he had tossed back through the Mirror of Twilight portal before being trapped in that what was it, stasis bomb, used by the Magic Lord. He looked around to see if it was laying on the ground near the Mirror of Twilight. It was not there. Given that he had been trapped in a stasis bomb's detonation field, he figured that a great deal of time had passed between the time he had gone to the Twilight Realm and the time he had emerged, but the question was how much time had passed, and could he somehow manage to find his way back to his own time? He would have to figure out that answer later, for the bigger problem was how he would get out of the Arbiter's Grounds, for it seemed to be surrounded by water now. He considered going back through the Mirror of Twilight in order to talk to the soldiers that had entered the Twilight Realm but as he approached the Mirror, nothing happened. No magical staircase formed for him to step up the Mirror. In fact, the Mirror looked to be in a deactivated state. He decided to wait for a while and see if the soldiers would return. He waited for several hours until he came to the conclusion that the soldiers had either decided to remain, or were unable to return, possibly due to the Mirror on the other side being deactivated. He wanted to help them, but he did not know how the Mirror was operated in the first place, so he did not know where to begin. He looked back up at the top of the coliseum and saw the shattered Sages' symbols. He wondered why all of the symbols, save for one of them, the Sage of Light's, was shattered. He would deal with that issue later. The first thing he had to figure out was what had happened to Hyrule, assuming he was, indeed, actually in Hyrule.

He went back down the stairwell once more and made his way over to the boat. The boat had a white hull with a red prow and a white cabin. At first glance, the boat did not look too much different from boats that Link had seen in paintings and in passing during his adventures. However, when looking at it a little more closely, he found that there were several differences. First and foremost was the fact that there appeared to be no sails on the boat. There was a device at what looked to be the stern of the boat, though, that he suspected was the main source of propulsion for the watercraft. The boat was armed with a cannon of some sort. It was situated on the bow of the boat. There was a single person on the boat near the rear of the boat. He was dressed in the same type of armor that the soldiers that had entered the Twilight Realm were and he also seemed to have the same type of weapon in his hand that they did, too. He looked to be waiting for someone. He looked up and saw Link and immediately genuflected before the Hylian man. "I salute you, Lord Link," the man, who was almost certainly a soldier, proclaimed in a loud voice as he saluted the teenager. "We did not expect you to return so soon."

Link's eyes went wide as he heard himself being addressed as 'Lord Link'. What was going on here? Why was he being addressed as nobility or even as royalty? "Who are you, and what has happened to Hyrule?" the Hero of Twilight asked.

The soldier looked back at the hero puzzled. "I am Alwyn, son of Gwynn."

The soldier then paused and waited for Link's reaction, turning his head in curiosity as he noticed that Link was looking surprised at the scene before him. Link continued to look at the small river and then out over the ocean. "Is this Hyrule? Am I even on Hylia?"

"Uh, yes, my lord," the soldier on the boat replied curiously.

"What happened?"

"The world was flooded a decade ago to the day."

"What caused it?"

"The Sages and a traitorous child, my lord," the soldier answered. "You defeated them but there was a great deal of evil in the land and with the people of Hyrule turning their backs to the king, you, and your lover, Princess Zelda, as well as everything that the kingdom stood for and they were able to seal the people beneath the waves before their defeat. With the arrival of an enemy whose power could challenge even a piece of the Triforce, the land was flooded and the enemy was trapped in a time seal. The land was flooded so that the enemy's forces would not take over Hyrule. Those loyal to the crown, though, were evacuated to the mountaintops and the highest points of the land and, as such, they were spared the flood and sealing. Meanwhile, you and Princess Zelda kept the enemy contained but the seal is weakening. It won't be long before the seal is broken, and it may well be completely broken now, as evidenced by the fact that you are here."

"Who is the current King of Hyrule?"

"The same king we had during the crisis. He has been involved in ensuring that a war overseas does not spill over into Hyrule. Does that satisfy you, sire?"

Link gave a sigh. "Okay, first of all, I am not the Link you're talking about. I just arrived here from the Twilight Realm. I have no royal title. I am also not romantically involved with Zelda, who was Queen of Hyrule where I was from so you don't have to salute me."

"Then who are you?" the soldier asked.

"My name _is_ Link," the hero answered. "However, as stated before, I just arrived here and I know nothing about what is happening or the state of Hyrule besides the fact that it is flooded." He then considered his position. He did not want to get in trouble, which was the reason that he had told the soldier the truth about who he was, but he also wanted to know everything that had happened and what the state of the land was. "Okay, next question: how much of the land remains above water?"

"There is a chain of islands all around the Great Sea, as well as the Hyrule Castle Town Island where the king rules from," the soldier replied. "The chain of islands is basically the kingdom, itself. There are some larger islands situated around the sea, too, before it reaches the ocean. Many of the islands are simply the peaks of mountains or the highest points of the former surface world of Hyrule. There are some small towns and settlements built on the islands, but nothing as large as the Hyrule Castle Island."

"Hyrule Castle Island?"

"It is a floating island that was built on top of the floodwaters by King Nohansen, himself," Alwyn explained. "It is the seat of power in the Kingdom of Hyrule, just like Hyrule Castle Town was." Alwyn then turned to Link and asked, "If you don't mind my asking, where, or rather _when_ are you from?"

Link considered what he should tell the strange soldier a moment before answering. Eventually, he responded, "I am from a time where Ganondorf attacked Hyrule from the Twilight Realm. I had gone to the Twilight Realm to assist it in fighting against the Elvanheim." While he knew that telling the truth could be risky, he felt as if it would be worth it in the long run. He did not want to get on the soldier's bad side, especially since the soldier seemed to be his only passage off the island. The soldier soon asked him, "Did you encounter any other soldiers while in the Twilight Realm?"

"Twili or Hylian?"

"Hylian," the soldier responded cantankerously.

"I saw a party enter into the Twilight Realm and I left without being detected. However, none of them followed me back here. The Mirror was deactivated after I returned to it when I first saw the ocean."

"Then the others are likely trapped in that realm," the soldier answered a little too plainly for Link's liking. He had just said that the soldier's companions, and likely comrades, were lost and there was no reaction from the soldier, almost as if losing soldiers was an everyday occurrence.

"Do you know anything about the Temple of Time?" the hero eventually asked, not wanting to bring up the subject so quickly, but he felt as if whatever had happened to Hyrule began at the temple.

The soldier shook his head. "No, nothing." Link noticed that he looked down and to the left. He had heard from Rusl that this was a sign that someone was lying. He did not call the soldier out on it, though, especially since he soon heard a sound off in the distance. Both he and the soldier gazed out over the ocean and saw a speck on the horizon. The soldier's eyes went wide as he cursed went back into the boat and seemingly readied his cannon. "What is it?" Link asked, drawing his sword in preparation for battle.

"She's coming," the soldier answered.

"Who?"

"Me," came a sinister feminine voice seemingly from all around them.

Link glanced around and soon saw a flash of light in front of him. He shielded his eyes as he raised his Mirror Shield and drew his Ordon Sword. The flash soon faded and Link saw a young humanoid woman standing before him. She was dressed in opulent dress that did not look to have any protective qualities. It was mostly pink with some splashes of blue and had oversized shoulder pads that took the shape of crescent moons that also had the Gerudo Symbol. She had a navy blue cape connected to large black elbow pads, and a pink, blue, and white skirt with an eye-like symbol on it with what looked like a tear to be flowing upwards. Link recognized it as a perverted Sheikah symbol. As for the woman, herself, she had teal skin, an oversized bust, and her clothing also left her midriff bare. She also had what looked to be a long lock of hair falling over her face that was covered in a black hood. For a second, she resembled a Twili of some sort and Link wondered if there was a connection. It could have been the reason the soldiers had gone to the Twilight Realm in the first place. She looked at Link and gave an evil grin. "Well well, hero. So we meet again," she stated in an evil tone.

Link did not recognize her, but he did not care. Her tone of voice and the glace she gave him were all he needed to know about her. "I must say I'm surprised that you emerged from the seal this quickly. Still, it's going to be so much fun finally killing you once and for all. And you know what else? My killing you will make _me_ a hero of this land, despite the fact that I served Twinrova and Ganon."

Link grimaced as she revealed that she was a servant of Ganondorf, though he had already suspected such due to the Gerudo Symbol on her shoulder pads. Still, he did not like the fact that she was talking as if she had already fought him. "Changed out your sword, I see," she noted, focusing on Link's Ordon Sword. "I must say that it looks quite plain." She smirked and shook her head. "I don't think you stand a snowball's chance in…" but she was interrupted when a loud bang issued forth. Even before the loud bang had sounded, she had already vanished from the spot she had been occupying. Link soon heard an explosion to his left as a large wall collapsed as something struck it and exploded. Both Link and the woman turned to the boat and saw that smoke was still rising from the cannon's barrel, the soldier hastily loaded another black ball into the cannon.

"Don't waste the ammo," the woman chided as she held out her hand and sent a stream of flame headed towards the small boat. Link attempted to intercept the flame, but suddenly, four dark humanoid forms appeared and attacked him, each of them armed with a sword and a shield, preventing him from being able to intersperse himself between the woman's flame blast and the boat. The stream of flame struck the boat and it immediately caught fire. Flames erupted around and inside the boat, forcing Alwyn to bring the boat in so he could jump to the makeshift dock in order to flee his burning wreck. He attempted to bring the burning boat in towards the dock, but the flame managed to melt through the hull and holes began to form in the boat and water began to leak onto the boat.

When the boat began to sink, Alwyn knew that it was time to abandon ship. He jumped from the boat and allowed it to sink into the water. He swam to a ladder on the side of the makeshift dock, a ladder that he and his comrades had brought with him in order to be able to reach the top of the dock. He reached up and gripped the rungs of the ladder, pulling himself out of the water. He climbed the short ladder and emerged onto the dock, and right in front of the waiting woman. "Veran!" he gasped.

Veran gave a sadistic chuckle. "You should have stayed in the water." She then powered a blast of flame and prepared to incinerate him with a blast of fire, but Alwyn was not done yet. He took out his weapon, what looked to be a musket, and fired a single shot at the sorceress, targeting her bare midriff. A loud bang echoed forth, causing Link, who had dispatched three of the Dark Links to look over to the soldier and Veran. Veran reacted to the blast with mild annoyance. There was a small burn mark on her torso, but she was otherwise uninjured, while there was a small clattering on the ground as a metal slug hit the ground. Veran merely glanced down at the bullet, and then back at Alwyn and grinned. "You're pathetic," she scoffed.

"Wait, you can't, no," Alwyn pleaded pathetically. "I'm defenseless."

"You still have that rifle," Veran retorted, looking down at the smoking weapon. She then grabbed the weapon by the barrel and melted it in her hands, the metal in her hands instantly becoming superheated and turning into liquid. She let the other two pieces of the gun fall to the ground, the pieces clattering as they hit.

"Please, Veran. Please! I'll do anything, just don't kill me."

"Why?" Veran retorted. "You're not even worthy of possession." She then grabbed Alwyn by the throat and lifted him up, his feet leaving the ground.

Link, seeing that Veran looked ready to kill Alwyn reached out and yelled, "No!"

Before he could help Alwyn, though, the sole remaining Dark Link grabbed him and attempted to subdue him. Link retaliated with a spin attack, bisecting the remaining Dark Link, which burst into an unnatural green flame as it was destroyed. Seeing that he would not reach Veran in time to save Alwyn with just his sword, he took out an arrow and notched it to his bow. Pulling back on the string, he aimed for Veran's back. He released the string and the arrow rocketed from the bow. The arrow almost instantly crossed the distance between Link and Veran and it struck Veran in the back. It bit into her flesh and stuck there for a few moments before falling out of her body. Still, the sorceress lurched forward, almost dropping Alwyn, grunting in pain. Link still saw what looked to be a red mark on her back where the arrow had struck. Apparently, the bow and arrow was not a useless weapon against her, but that was likely because she had had her defenses lowered. If he were going to defeat Veran, he would need to use stronger weaponry.

Veran turned back to Link and gave a smirk. "You're stronger than before," she remarked. "I must ask you why you are risking so much for this thing," she said, pointing at Alwyn. "Did you know that he helped carry out several attacks on schools and orphanages, murdering dozens of children in the process? Did you know that he kidnapped children from these orphanages for the kingdom so they could be indoctrinated into the service of the king's army?" Veran then smirked. "I must say that if I were to try to revive Ganondorf, the original one, I wouldn't need to do anything to light the Flame of Sorrow. It would already have been lit! And it's all thanks to you!"

Veran then used her fire magic to set Alwyn ablaze. The Hylian soldier burst into flames and cried out, flailing as Veran released him and shoved him a few feet away. The soldier rolled on the ground, trying to extinguish the fire but was unable to do so. Seeing little chance of survival otherwise, he ran towards the edge of the dock and hurled himself into the water. The fire was immediately extinguished, but the damage had been done. His clothing was reduced to ashes and his body was covered with third and fourth degree burns. He floated up to the surface of the water but it was unclear if he was alive or dead. Veran smirked and nonchalantly noted, "Well, that's one more sorrowful soul that's going to be suffering for eternity."

Link seethed with anger at how cavalierly Veran had either killed or severely injured Alwyn. "You'll pay for that," the seethed.

All Veran did was laugh. "Since when did you get sentimental about the loss of a soldier? Wasn't it _you_ who said that the soldiers in Hyrule were worthless, even with all these advanced magical weapons that they have been granted? I've heard about you, Link. You're not like the others who have carried the name. You enjoy seeing these worthless excuses of humanity suffer just as much as I do. The only difference for you is that you're punishing them for their weakness while I just do it for jollies."

She gave a laugh as Link readied himself, pulling out his Mirror Shield and holding it out in front of him. The sunlight gleamed off the polished surface of the Mirror Shield as the Sheikah Symbol appeared on it. As he readied the Mirror Shield, Veran's expression changed to one of surprise. "Huh?" she muttered. "He never used a shield like that against Twinrova, Ganon, or anytime after the change."

She gritted her teeth as she prepared to launch a magical blast on Link. Raising her left hand, a pulsing green ball of energy formed in front of it. The ball sounded like it was water flowing down a drain. Link steeled himself for the attack, raising the Mirror Shield over himself. Veran unleashed the ball of energy and it rocketed forth from her hand, leaving a trail of magical dust-like sparks in its wake. Link did not move a muscle as he saw that the ball was already on a course to collide with his shield. He stood his ground as the ball struck the shield and splashed against it, deforming into a disc, before being reflected right back at Veran.

Veran's eyes went wide with shock as she saw the ball of magic splash against the shield only to bounce off of it and streak right back at her. She did not have time to curse or raise any type of defense as she reflexively tried to dive away from her reflected projectile. As she was diving to her right, though, the projectile struck her in the legs, dispersing upon striking her. Still, the damage was done. The magical energy ball burned her legs and she could feel her defenses failing. She tried to stand but found that it was painful to do so. She looked ahead at Link and saw him charging right for her. Her eyes flashed again and she instinctively raised her arms to her head, trying to shield herself from his attack. His target was not her head, though, but her bare midriff, which she had left completely undefended. He thrust his sword forward and it bit into her exposed flesh, the sword disappearing into the wound. She gasped, a few specks of blood issuing forth from her gasp, as she froze, her body going into shock. Blood trickled from the wound as Link withdrew his sword.

Veran staggered backwards as Link pulled out his sword. "How?" she gasped, struggling to breathe. She placed her hands over the wound to try to limit the bleeding. "How could he do this to me without magic? He had always relied on magical weapons and spells in the past. Is he this good or am I this pathetic?"

Link gave no answer as he neared Veran once more. Her eyes now burned with hatred towards the Hylian hero. She considered her options. She could reveal her true form and fight him at full power, but she had a feeling that it would do little good against someone as powerful as he was. He had not even used any of his magic, just a shiny shield that was somehow able to reflect magical projectiles back at their origin. She grimaced. She had underestimated him, believing him to be as weak as he was when he had fought against Twinrova and later against a released Ganon. He had needed the help of a younger Link in order to defeat them. She had witnessed the battle, herself, and knew that there was no way that he should have been able to defeat her. The question here was, why was he so powerful now? She stared at Link and decided that it was time to try one last spell.

She slowly rose, keeping her left hand over her torso wound, while holding up her right. A ball of fire soon appeared over the hand and it began to grow in size, causing Link to back away. He could hear the crackling of the flame as the air was burned and set ablaze around the ball of flame. As the ball of flame grew, the hum that was sounding from the ball rose in pitch and volume. "This spell was taught to me by the Twinrova!" Veran cried out. "This spell is unstoppable! Now die!"

She then unleashed a vicious stream of flame on Link. Link, however, had experience dealing with this spell before. Thinking back to his battle with Twinrova, he raised the shield and caught he spell on it. The spell splashed against his shield and expanded outward a bit before being drawn into the shield as if the shield were a black hole. As soon as the flame was absorbed, a reddish orange circle appeared on the shield and began to pulse. As it pulsed, a sound similar to an alarm klaxon began to sound.

Veran's eyes went wide once more as she could not comprehend how a spell that was designed to explode upon impact would not wash over something like a polished shield and spill over to its holder. Perhaps there was something magical about the shield, which would not surprise her too much given the fact that it had a Sheikah symbol on it. Not only that, but even she could see the pulsing of the red orange circle and the chime sounding forth from the shield. Perhaps, the shield had a limit to the amount of fire it could absorb before being overloaded and unable to protect the user. Still, she would not let this setback slow her down. Powering another fire spell, she unleashed the next ball upon Link, aiming right at the shield. Again, the stream of fire struck the shield and exploded outward for a bit before being drawn back into the shield. The pulsing of the shield increased in brightness, frequency, as well as the alarm sound increasing in both pitch and volume. Link noticed that Veran was beginning to grin, almost as if she had discovered a weakness to the shield. Link's expression, however, did not change. He had a feeling that he knew what she was thinking and he would let her discover her mistake on her own.

Veran merely powered up a third ball of flame that grew in size until it was the size of a small boulder. She carefully focused on Link, seeing that he was not moving at all. She grinned. She had him. She targeted the ground just in front of Link, knowing that either the spell would spread to him and set him ablaze, or that he would try to catch the spell, only for the shield to overload and have the flame explode from his shield in every direction, and hopefully back onto him. As soon as she was sure of her aim, as well as being sure that Link would not back away, she unleashed the stream of flame right at the ground before Link.

She watched as Link moved forward to intercept the stream of flame and grinned. The shield would almost certainly overload and fire would explode forth from it, either burning Link or setting him ablaze. Either way, she would at worst have an opening to attack Link, and at best, Link would be dead. She watched as the flame struck his shield and was absorbed into it. She saw the pulsing get brighter and increase in frequency for a second, along with the pitch and volume of the alarm increase for that second. Then something happened that she did not expect. Instead of the flame bursting from the shield as if it was an explosion, it burst forth as a focused beam: its target, Veran. Veran's eyes went wide with shock as she saw the focused beam of fire streaking at her too quickly for her to be able to dodge. The beam struck her in the chest and the flame expanded outward as if it were a firebomb. Veran cried out as she burst into flames, her clothing being reduced to ashes as the beam of fire struck her. She ran around, flailing, as she attempted to think of some way to extinguish the flames before she succumbed to them. She knew that rolling on the ground would be useless, for Alwyn had tried that only to see it fail. She then considered jumping into the water and hoping that that would be enough to extinguish the flames before she died. The issue, of course, was the fact that she was not a good swimmer and that if she did so, she would likely have to transform into her true form, something she wanted to avoid doing unless absolutely necessary. In the end, she felt as if she had little choice but to do so, so she ran towards the water, hoping that Link would not shoot her in the back with a Bomb Arrow or some other weapon, for she knew that there was no way she would survive a subsequent attack in this form. So far, though, Link was not moving, still keeping his Mirror Shield focused forward, just in case she tried to take him down with her. She approached the edge of the stone ledge and jumped into the water.

When she entered the water, the salty water stung her body and she suppressed an additional scream as the salt entered her earlier torso wound, disinfecting it in the post painful manner imaginable. The good news was that the water did, indeed, put out the flame. The bad news, though, was the fact that since most of her body had received third degree burns, the salt from the water was only adding to her pain as now the water was pouring over her whole body. She sense Link approaching, readying his bow for a final strike. She would not survive a bow and arrow strike, much less anything else he likely had in his arsenal. She needed to do something fast, for she doubted that her true form, or even her Metamorphosis form, would be sufficient to defeat Link.

She looked around for any signs of Alwyn, hoping that he was still alive. If she could somehow possess him, she could use him as a shield, for there was no way Link would risk harming Alwyn just to get at her, that is unless he actually believed her about the atrocities that he participated in. She looked around and eventually found the burned body of Alwyn, or what was left of it, floating in the water. All that was left was desiccated skin and bones. It was obvious that he was dead. She frowned. Suddenly, Veran was wishing that she had not killed the soldier. She looked up and saw Link looking down into the water. She quickly receded beneath the water, holding her breath and making sure not to exhale, for she did not want him to be able to see where she would attack him from. For a fleeting moment, she considered trying to possess him, but thought better of it when she realized that he would be on guard and could react quickly to anything that she did. After she was beneath the surface deep enough so that she would not be easily seen, she began to transform into her true form. A glow appeared around her as she shed her human-like disguise and then burst forth at Link appearing in the form of a large, green fairy. She no longer appeared as the attractive woman that she had taken the form of at first. This form looked demonic in nature, as if everything that could go wrong with a fairy, did. She had two wings that sprouted from her back and antennae coming from her head, and a hideous face twisted by the rage and malice that she felt towards Link and the rest of the world.

Link recoiled as Veran launched herself towards him and he raised his shield and dove out of her way, just barely avoiding being knocked down by her. He quickly rose and turned to face her. She turned to face him and said, "To be forced to reveal my true form against a warrior without any magic to speak of, or any magical weapons. I must say I'm impressed. Still, you won't beat me the way you and your allies beat Twinrova and Ganon. I will show you why you need to fear Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows. Just before you die!"

She opened the next phase of the battle by unleashing a large blue fireball at Link. The fireball traveled slowly so it would be painfully easy for Link to avoid. However, Veran then charged him directly, forcing him to jump to the side to evade her. As he jumped to the side, he held out his sword and raked it across her flesh, the sword biting into it but only leaving a long but shallow cut. Veran was more durable in this form than she was in her human-like form. She retaliated by unleashing a flurry of blue fireballs towards Link, causing him to raise his Mirror Shield to protect himself. The fireballs struck his shield and were reflected back at Veran. She was more maneuverable in this form, though, being able to take to the air and she managed to avoid most of her reflected fireballs, only suffering a couple of hits. The hits counted, though, and she grunted with each hit, a burn mark being left on her chest as a sign of the damage she had taken. She grimaced. The reflected fireballs did more damage than Link's sword, so in order to have a good chance to attack him, she would have to engage him in close combat, his primary strength. Still, she felt as if she had little choice in the matter, primarily because of that blasted Mirror Shield.

She focused on the hero and flapped her wings in preparation for her dive. As she did so, Link held up his sword and prepared to intercept her dive. She then swooped down upon the hero, trying to land on him and punch him as hard as possible. However, Link sidestepped her swoop and she crashed onto the ground with a massive thud. Link then slashed at her with his sword, the blade biting into the demonic fairy's torso. The sword did not bite deep into Veran's flesh, but the strike produced a second long and painful cut to her torso. She grimaced with pain as Link drew the blade across her torso. She knew that she would have to do something soon or she would be in serious trouble. One or two cuts, even long ones, might not be fatal, but a hundred would be. And given the strength of both Link and his sword, chances were that a hundred cuts would be overkill. Still, a shallow cut to the throat could be fatal. Added to the fact that Link was fast and skilled, things could go from bad to worse very quickly. Still, she had no choice, for her large fireball was too slow-moving to be effective in combat save for a distraction or an attempt to make Link do something stupid and maneuver into it, and her normal fireball barrage would just be reflected right back at her. She had to come up with a strategy fast or Link would most certainly kill her, and she did not want to reveal her final transformations to Link primarily because of her pride.

Still, she was not out of the fight in her demonic fairy form just yet. She soon switched to another tactic. She decided to use her blue fire spell on herself and have the flame surround her own body. Casting the spell, blue flames surrounded her body and turned her arms into powerful flaming weapons. Gazing over at Link, she chided, "What will you do now, self-proclaimed hero? You'll be taking a great risk by attacking me directly in this form."

Link merely shrugged, as if this was nothing more than a simple puzzle for him to solve where the solution was staring him in the face, screaming at him. He took out a bomb and tied it to an arrow. He lit the bomb and notched it to his bow. He pulled back on the string and let fly with the arrow just as Veran, seeing Link lower his shield, went to fire a barrage of fireballs at Link. Link danced away from the fireballs as he fired the Bomb Arrow at Veran, the demonic fairy not doing anything to avoid the Bomb Arrow. The Bomb Arrow struck her in the chest and detonated. Veran was immediately sent flying hurtling through the air, the fire surrounding her body dying in almost an instant. She landed several meters away with a thud and she grunted as she felt a crack underneath her as pain shot through her body from her wings. She struggled to rise and attempted to flap her wings, only to find that the process was far more difficult than expected, and also incredibly painful. Looking at her back, she saw that her left wing was bent in an unnatural shape, with the upper half of the wing merely flapping in the breeze, broken. Veran cursed as she realized that she was now confined to the ground, someplace where she was no match for Link.

She struggled to rise and face Link, the hero looking towards her, waiting for her to make the next move. As she rose, she knew that she had no choice. She would have to reveal her final transformations in order to have a chance of beating him. "I must say that you are far stronger than expected, and recorded. There is no way that you are the hero who had to be bailed out of a battle against Ganon by a ten-year old boy. I underestimated you and have paid the price for my arrogance. I will not make that mistake again." She then took a deep breath, which caused her more pain than she expected, causing her to grunt. "I had hoped to not have to show you these disgusting forms, but it would appear as if I have little choice if I wish to beat you, hero."

As soon as Veran had finished speaking, there was a brilliant flash of light that forced Link to look away from the sorceress and cover his eyes with the Mirror Shield. When the light died down and Link looked back at Veran, he no longer saw the demonic fairy that he had been fighting. Instead, he saw what looked to be a large purple beetle or turtle, noticeably larger than Link, with Veran's face. Veran's face glared at the Hero of Twilight. "I will make you suffer for forcing me to use this hideous form."

She then proceeded to jump high onto the air, far higher than Link would have expected. She withdrew her face into the shell as arced through the air and the hero quickly realized that the sorceress's jump would have her land right on his head. He promptly scurried out of the way of the falling sorceress, allowing her to hit right where he had been scant moments earlier. As soon as she landed, a pool of purple bubbling liquid formed beneath her and spread out a couple of feet from her. Link stood off at the distance and studied the situation, seeing that Veran's face did not emerge from her shell. Plans and scenarios quickly played out in his mind as he planned the fight and tried to anticipate Veran's next move. She did her best to not give him any time to think, though, as she quickly peered out to find Link and then jumped into the air once more and tried to crush him. Having seen the effects of her landing before, though, he knew that the acid would not spread out too far, so he could stand at a distance and strike her when she landed. He then sheathed his sword, hoping to catch her off guard with a Mortal Draw. Veran landed a few feet in front of him and the acid pool formed beneath her. Link watched and waited for her face to emerge so he could strike it with his sword. It did and as it did so, the acid pool vanished. This gave him the opportunity he needed to slash at her face. He rushed up to her, and pulled out his sword and performed a Mortal Draw. The blade was raked across Veran's face and she recoiled with the hit, crying out in pain.

Soon, Veran turned into a black blob of energy and the blob began to take a new shape. It extended and transformed into an oversized purple bee with Veran's face. As soon as the transformation was complete, she took to the air, hovering a few feet off the ground, and began to fly towards Link in an attempt to ram him and hopefully sting him. Link was prepared for her, though, and he sheathed his sword once more in preparation for another Mortal Draw. As Veran neared the hero, he gripped the hilt of his blade and drew it, striking down at the head of Veran, the blade biting into Veran's head and drawing blood. She gave an inhuman shriek and recoiled at the strike. She then backed away and transformed back into her turtle form.

Veran jumped into the air again and attempted to land on Link. The hero jumped away from Veran's landing spot and waited for her to peer out to look for him, stepping to the side so she would not immediately spot him. The acid pool that always formed on her landing spot soon dispersed and she peered out to search for the hero, and got the point of Link's blade as her reward. She shrieked and withdrew into her shell once more. She then jumped into the air and attempted to crush Link once more. He ran all around the area, avoiding Veran's jumps, waiting for her to emerge from her shell.

After she landed once more, she soon transformed into a black blob once more, which quickly mutated into another form, this one being that of a purple spider. While the spider's face was visible, it was not that of Veran's, so Link suspected that it was protected from attack. A spin attack quickly confirmed the hero's hypothesis as it did no damage to Veran's spider form. Veran charged after Link, moving surprisingly quickly, even for a monstrous spider.

Link's mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to expose Veran's weak spot, or find out if she even had one. He soon took out a bomb and strapped it to an arrow, knowing that Bomb Arrows had been effective on her in the past, far more than normal arrows or even his sword. Lighting the bomb, he notched it to his bow and pulled back on the string. He then let fly with the arrow. The Bomb Arrow struck Veran in the head and detonated, causing her body to become paralyzed and forcing her face to appear. The look of pain and shock on her face indicating that she may have even suffered some damage from the Bomb Arrow. Wasting no time, Link rushed up to Veran's face and performed a Mortal Draw on her. The blade bit into Veran's face and did not stop as it continued to slice through her head, bisecting her head. As soon as the blade had finished its downward strike, a gleam of light issued forth from Veran's wound as she cried out, "Nooooo! This can't be happening! How could I be beaten this way, by a teenager who didn't even use his magic?"

As soon as she uttered her last question, her body promptly erupted into several explosions, forcing Link to run from the exploding creature. After the final explosion, he looked back at where Veran had been standing and saw nothing but a black scorch mark where the Sorceress of Shadows had stood before her death. Not lowering his guard just yet, though, he waited, and hoped that this truly was the end of Veran. After several minutes of waiting and seeing that there was no sign of the sorceress, he finally relaxed and sheathed his blade. The battle was over and Veran was truly destroyed.

He would not get a chance to relax for long, though, for just as he sat down to rest and try to figure out what to do about his current situation, he saw what looked to be a metallic seafaring vessel approaching, along with several smaller motorized boats much like the one Alwyn had been stationed on. The vessel carried no sails but he could see several weapons that looked to be cannons on its side. After a few seconds, the boats arrived and Link saw that each boat had about eight soldiers stationed on it, each one armed with the same weaponry that Alwyn had carried. The boats were also armed with cannons. The soldiers wasted little time getting their boats to the dock and having teams jump up onto the stone ground and rush towards Link, their rifles drawn and pointing straight at him. Once they saw who he was, though, they immediately lowered their weapons and said, "Sire, forgive us. We did not know it was you."

Link, sighted, not wanting to be misidentified as the hero of this land when he had just arrived. "Sirs, I don't know who you think I am, but I am not royalty, nor am I involved with royalty right now," he told them. "My name is Link and I just arrived here from the Mirror of Twilight. I…" but the soldiers did not allow him to speak anymore, for they pointed their weapons at him and said, "Quiet! Now, under the pain of death if you do not answer, if you are not the hero and lover of Princess Zelda, tell us who you are now!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Link stood stock still as the soldiers held their weapons on him, making no moves that could be mistaken as hostile. When the soldiers asked him who he was, where he came from, and how he got here, once more, he answered, "My name is Link. I was born in Ordon Village in Ordona Province outside of Hyrule, or at least it was when I left Hyrule. I entered the Twilight Realm in order to help out the Twili in their fight against…"

"Who and what are the Twili?" one of the soldiers interrupted.

"The Twili are a people who are from the Twilight Realm," Link explained a little nervously. There seemed to be something…off about the soldiers. Still, despite his misgivings, he continued, "Their ancestors used to live in Hyrule and came from a variety of tribes from the Hylians, to Gerudos, to Sheikahs, to even round-eared Humans."

One of the soldiers cocked his head to the side a bit while the others gave a contemptuous scoff, seemingly at the mention of Humans. "What do the Twili look like?" the first soldier asked in the same gruff voice.

"It depends," Link answered, looking at the soldier curiously. "From what I can tell generally have bluish-gray skin with black patches on it. The black patches may be clothing made of shadow since they often cover the body much like a toga with a hood. They also have glowing eyes that can either be red, orange, or yellow. At first, they were very tall and thin, but once Ganondorf was beaten and Zant was finally killed, too, they reverted to more human-like appearance, though their eyes still glowed. As for their females, the only one I really got to know was their queen, Midna." The soldier's eyes perked up at the sound of Midna's name, something that Link noticed. Still, he continued, "She looks far more like a tall human with bluish-gray skin. She wears a normal skirt and cape but wears shadows over her torso. She also has fiery orange hair and glowing turquoise markings on her skin."

The soldier listened to Link's description of Midna, as well as the Twili, and mentally made note of everything he had been told. The soldier then said, "Thank you. You may continue with your story of how you came to be here."

Link nodded and continued. "By the time I had entered the Twilight Realm, it was already being evacuated since the Magic Lords…"

"Who?"

"Beings that came from another realm," Link answered. "Do you know of a race called the Elvanheim?"

The soldier shook his head.

"Elvanheim is another name for the Magic Lords," Link told him. "They attacked Hyrule long ago and engaged the gods in a war that is known as the War in the Heavens. They were eventually driven off, though." Link intentionally left out the fact that the Magic Lords had been fighting evenly with the gods, not wanting the soldiers to get suspicious or start asking too many questions. He had a feeling that the soldiers would not take to kindly to history being wrong, or inaccurate, given his temperament. The soldier soon nodded and then motioned for Link to continue with his story. "Well, the Elvanheim were overrunning the Twili's defenses and Midna had decided to use the Mirror of Twilight to evacuate the Twili to a world in another realm. She was going to stay behind and trap the Magic Lords in a stasis field that would collapse around the enemy, rending the fabric of space and time, and also destroying them in the process. However, my arrival allowed her to escape and also gave me a chance to escape, but a Magic Lord stopped me and forced me into a battle, where I was placed in a stasis field until he died since I had had fatally injured him with a Light-infused arrow in the fight."

"Light-infused arrow?" the soldier asked.

"It is an arrow that is infused with the Light of the Sols. Such Light is the bane of evil beings like the Magic Lords."

"Do you have any more of these arrows?" the soldier asked.

Link shook his head. "I used the last one against the Magic Lord that attacked me as I tried to make my way back to Hyrule."

"A pity," the soldier said, shrugging. "We could have used such weapons back when Ganon was still active."

"Ganondorf is alive?" Link blurted.

The soldier shook his head. "No, or rather, he's not active right now. Right now, he's sealed in a chest and is at the bottom of the ocean, the real one, not simply what has become the Great Sea Hyrule. Still, that's probably not the Ganondorf you beat, for this one was born in the Gerudo Village and disobeyed their rules in going to the Pyramid of Power and drawing a trident of power. The trident changed Ganondorf into Ganon, the name we all call him now."

Link nodded. "Well getting back to my story, I simply emerged from the stasis field and came to the Mirror of Twilight, which was active and I saw several soldiers like you come into the now desolate Twilight Realm. While the pathway was open, I entered the portal. The soldiers, however, did not follow me through. Midna's plan was to destroy the Mirror of Twilight when she exited through it, though, and it had been damaged before I entered, but not destroyed."

"Did the soldiers make it out?" the soldier asked.

Link shrugged, holding up his arms. "I don't know. I haven't seen anyone emerge and the Mirror on this side is non-active. As far as I can tell, I don't think that they made it out."

The soldier grunted. "I see. Take us to the Mirror."

Link then guided the soldiers to the Mirror of Twilight not too far away from the site where he had fought Veran. When they arrived at the Mirror, they saw that the Mirror appeared to be cracked in numerous places. There was also light coming from some of the cracks, making look like the Mirror was either about to shatter of its own accord, or that someone was trying to activate it. The soldier grunted and turned to Link and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think that someone is trying to access the Mirror of Twilight and gain entry to the World of Light."

"Did you leave any Magic Lords alive in the Twilight Realm?" was the soldier's next question.

Link thought back to the battle and noticed that while there were likely many Magic Lords in the Palace of Twilight upon its destruction, that there may have been more than that elsewhere. After all, he had engaged a Magic Lord before. Still, he had also spent a long time in that stasis field. If the Magic Lords were going to invade Hyrule, they would have already done so. As such, Link answered, "I don't know. However, I was trapped in the stasis field for several seconds, my time, which could be an eternity here. I think that if the Magic Lords wanted to invade Hyrule, or knew how to get here, they would have done so long ago."

The soldier placed his fingers on his chin and considered Link's answer for a few seconds. He did not want to abandon the soldiers in the Twilight Realm should they have discovered some new type of magic or power that could be used against the Kingdom of Hyrule's enemies. Still, he did not want to allow a malevolent force of magicians that could fight evenly with gods access to the World of Light. To that end, he said, "Thank you for your input, Link." He turned to one of the soldiers, who was wearing a red cape, and told him, "Azare, destroy the Mirror of Twilight. We can't risk letting any Magic Lord stragglers through."

"Understood, sir," came a surprisingly feminine voice.

The soldier then removed his hood and was quickly revealed to be a woman. Link heard the woman chant in an alien language as she waved her armored arms and held her hands high in the sky. A ball of flame soon appeared in front of her hands and she then shoved them forward. The ball of flame leapt from her hands and streaked right to the Mirror of Twilight. The ball made contact with the Mirror and seemed to fade into it as it disappeared for a moment. As soon as it struck the Mirror, orange and red lines formed in the cracks in the Mirror, as if the flames had filled in the cracks. The magical glass-like substance that formed the Mirror soon began to glow and melt, molten liquid dripping onto the floor below the Mirror. Holes with glowing orange outlines soon formed in the Mirror and soon, sections of the Mirror of Twilight began to break away from the frame, shattering as they hit the floor, those that were still solid enough to shatter. Once the Mirror, itself, had been destroyed, the woman chanted again. Electricity arced around her fingertips as she pointed at the Mirror's frame. A bolt of lightning erupted from her fingers and struck the frame, instantly reducing it to fine ash, which blew away in the wind and dispersed. A final spell was cast to destroy any remaining melted fragments and liquid from the Mirror of Twilight.

Link looked at the soldier, wondering if he should feel relieved or aghast. The soldier, sensing Link's confusion, stated, "We could not take the chance that it was the Magic Lords that were trying to make their way through the Mirror."

Link understood the soldier's concern, but he did not like how quickly the soldier had made the decision to trap his own people in the Twilight Realm, though chances were that if the Magic Lords had, indeed, been trying to get through, something that upon thinking about it, he highly doubted, that the soldiers that had gone to the Twilight Realm were likely already dead. Still, there was a lingering doubt that any of the Magic Lords, besides the one that attacked him, had survived Midna's trap.

The soldier continued to study Link and he eventually said, "Now all we need to do is to figure out what to do with you. Do you have any plans, Link was it?"

Link nodded in affirmation of his name. "I have no idea where, or rather _when_ I am. So I don't know what I'll do right now."

The soldier then turned to Azare and commanded, "Azare, make contact with the king. Tell him we have found another Link. Tell him that I am requesting further instructions."

"Yes sir," Azare replied. She closed her eyes and lowered her head as if in meditation. Link could see her lips move but no sound came from her mouth. He looked at the others, who were eying Azare cautiously, almost as if they saw some invisible aura around her.

For the next few minutes, the soldiers all waited as Azare was apparently conversing with the king or one of his representatives. Eventually, she opened her eyes and looked over to the squad leader. "The king eagerly awaits out arrival. He said for us to take Link with us so he could tell him of the circumstances of his arrival here as well as his defeat of the Sorceress of Shadows Veran."

The soldier nodded and then turned to Link, saying, "It looks like you're coming with us. Don't worry, though. You'll be coming as our guest, not as a prisoner."

Link nodded and relaxed as the soldiers lowered their weapons. The lead soldier soon came over to Link and said, "Come with us. We must get back to the castle."

Link followed the soldiers to the motorized, carefully stepping onto the boats. Link took his seat on the boat as one of the soldiers went to man the cannon while to others sat on either side of him. Once the rest of the group had boarded the other boats, Link's boat led the others out of the flooded Arbiter's Grounds and out to sea, where a large ship was waiting. This was not like any ship that Link had seen before, though. This ship was huge, far larger than any of the classic sailing vessels that he had heard about in the past. He guessed that it had to be at least a hundred meters in length, and likely more, and had a width of around thirty meters he guessed. There were no sails to speak of on the ship. There seemed to be a number of propellers on the stern of the ship. There were cranes on the side of the ship that seemed to lower platforms that would collect the smaller boats that were heading over to it. Sure enough, that was exactly what the cranes were for.

Link watched as one of the cranes lowered a platform for the ship to sail onto. The ship moved onto the platform and came to a stop as the crane began to pull it up. Link looked at the side of the boat and saw line after line of gun ports, four in all. Jutting out of the gun ports were massive cannons that likely fired either large bombs or solid projectiles that would be capable of sinking any ship that he had ever heard of. As he was rising, Link also looked at the metal hull, which looked to be made of steel and was so thick that he wondered if even the massive cannons wielded by the ship, itself, would have been able to breach the hull of the ship if another ship used such cannons against the ship.

"Beautiful ship, isn't it," one of the soldiers said, causing Link to turn to face him.

"I've never seen a ship like this before," Link answered. "In fact, I've seen very few ships but none of them have hulls made out of metal."

"Technology has increased quite a bit since you left Hyrule however long ago you did. The Great Flood also forced us to advance a bit faster, as did the rise of the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom."

"This ship is the strongest ship in the Hyrulean fleet," another soldier proclaimed proudly. "The _H.R.S. Hylia_. There is no ship stronger than this one. It's also the flagship of the whole fleet."

Link was curious about the number of ships in the fleet but decided not to ask the question since the second soldier had drawn a disapproving look from the first, causing him to shrink back to his previous position. He did not want to get any of the soldiers in trouble. He simply watched as the small boat was lifted onto the much larger ship.

Once the crane reached the top, it swung over and took the small boat that housed the soldiers and placed it inside of a small pool, depositing it softly into the pool with nary a shudder. Ramps were extended from the ship to the small boat allow the passengers to disembark. As the ramps were extended, Link almost expected to hear the whines of grinding motors, but they were nowhere to be heard. Instead, it was almost as if the ramps knew to extend. Once he and the others disembarked onto the ship, the ramps retracted and the crane took the small boat away to another location, likely a storage bay for such boats. Looking at the machinery and how he was brought onboard the boat, he thought that it was a very complicated and convoluted way to bring someone onto the deck of a warship.

Looking out over the deck of the warship, he saw a large number of what looked to be crew standing around, making sure that everything was going well. There were also a large number of armed soldiers on the ship, each of them armed with the same type of weaponry that the soldiers that had taken Link onto the ship were armed with.

"We always carry marines and other soldiers on the main deck, just in case any enemy decides the best chance to take down the ship, or simply steal it, is to send soldiers onto the main deck, itself, and commandeer it that way," one of the soldiers explained haughtily. "This ship is so strong that nothing else in the world can stand up to it."

"How do you get it to move?" Link asked in a tone combining wonder and curiosity.

"That information is classified, for the moment. I'd need approval from my commanding officer or the admiral before telling you," the soldier answered.

Link did not ask anything further, simply looking around the main deck, studying the marines and soldiers. Soon, another soldier approached him and said, "The ride back to the Castle Island will take a few hours. We have a guest quarters for you set and ready to go."

"Thank you," Link answered.

The soldier then guided Link to a stairwell at the rear of the ship and took him below deck. As Link and the soldier emerged from the stairwell, the soldier guided Link to his quarters. The plain gray corridor Link and the soldier walked through was quite narrow and did not seem like it would fit both him and the soldier if they walked abreast. "Make a hole!" the soldier called out to any of the other crew members that were standing in the corridor, causing them to flatten themselves against the walls so the soldier and Link could walk by. They eventually came to another corridor and Link was directed to make his way down the corridor. He did so, noting all of the doors and numbers that were placed above them, indicating that they either led to other parts of the ship, or were themselves, officers' quarters.

After walking down a few more corridors, each one looking remarkably similar to the previous one the soldier told Link, "We're here."

Link looked at the door and saw that it was labeled S01-B-15. He suspected that it translated him to being on Sublevel One, Section B, Quarters Fifteen. "These are your guest quarters," the soldier told him. "The trip should take a few hours or so. You can rest and/or we can send you some entertainment if you desire."

"I'm fine, thank you," Link told the soldier politely as he entered the room.

"Understood," the soldier answered in a tone that seemed to have some unwarranted harshness to it, inclining his head in the process. As he did so, Link could not help but notice that the soldier seemed to be suppressing a scowl, almost as if his refusal to accept any entertainment was a tremendous insult to the soldier. The soldier then backed out of the doorway and departed and the door closed.

Link looked around the room and saw that it was very well furnished, far more so than his own house in Ordon Village had been. There was a bed lying close to a wall that was covered with wallpaper that depicted various scenes, likely from heroic battles of Hyrule's past. The bed was large and was likely designed to be able to fit at least two people, possibly more. Just by looking at it, Link could tell that it was plush and was fit for royalty. Going over to it, he placed his sack next to it and took off his sword, shield, and his chainmail shirt. Sitting on the bed, it felt plush and luxurious, something that was fit for a king. If this was how a guest was treated onboard a warship, he began to wonder how a king or queen would be treated and what their quarters would look like.

Sitting on the bed, Link spotted a night table close to the bed. There were also other chairs and tables situated throughout the room. There was a bookcase not too far away from the bed that was filled with books. Looking at the spines of most of the books, he saw that the language must have changed a little, for there were some that he was unable to read. Others, however, seemed to be written in basic Hylian and, as such, he was able to read the titles of them fairy easily. Most of the ones that he could read the titles of appeared to be fictional stories, mostly of heroes and how they faced down some of Hyrule's greatest enemies, such as Demise, the Dark Interlopers, and Ganondorf. A few, however, appeared to be of the history of Hyrule. One of them was literally titled, _A History of Hyrule_. He went over to it and took it down off the shelf. He wanted to learn about the history of Hyrule from the time he left, and he figured that by reading the book, he could figure out how far in the future from his point of departure he was. He opened the book and began to read it.

For the next hour, Link studied the book and its contents. According to the book, seven hundred years had passed since the death of Ganondorf. He gave a sigh. He was seven hundred years out of time, and likely seven hundred years away from his friends back in Ordon Village, and Midna. He read on to see if there was any mention of the Twili queen. There was none in the section that he had read. He only hoped that Midna had made it back to Hyrule and had managed to find some way to return to her people. He then went on to read about the events of what happened after he had left Hyrule.

There had been other incidents and conflicts, but the most notable one was when Vaati had returned, and was later revealed to be working under Ganon, the descendant of the Ganondorf that Link had fought killed before going to the Twilight Realm. Vaati was believed to have been killed by a new Link, who wielded a weapon known as the Four Sword, and Ganon had been sealed within the Four Sword. Then, a mere ten years ago, someone, likely Veran, had revived several evils and had unsealed Ganon from the Four Sword. Before Link had been forced to fight Ganon, he had been given an impossible choice, either save Hyrule and let Zelda die, or save Zelda and let Hyrule be destroyed by his strategically placed minions. At Zelda's insistence, he had saved Hyrule and attempted to return to save Zelda from Ganon and his spell to get her power. He made it back before Zelda had died and fought Ganon. During the fight against Ganon, Zelda had been killed with both Link and a child referred to as Young Link being gravely injured. Zelda managed to save them with her last breath, allowing herself to die so that they could live. The older Link had taken her death hard, but was also criticized for failing to save Zelda. After the Sages seemingly made it so that the Master Sword could not be drawn before the fight against Ganon, and not allowing him to use a ritual to revive Zelda, he struck out on his own to try to save her, fighting Ganon's minions in the process. He later managed to get everything that was needed for the ritual to revive her. He revived her using the forbidden ritual, causing the Sages to grow angry with him, as well as causing the people of Hyrule to view him as a villain. He then used the Four Sword to face down Ganon once more, fighting him with difficulty but ultimately being beaten, only being saved by Young Link, who had drawn the Master Sword. Ganon was sealed inside a world known as the Dark World and remains there to the day. That was when he returned to Hyrule and was thanked by Zelda, wanting to become her husband. The King, Nohansen Hyrule, was more than willing to consent to the marriage, but it was said that the Sages refused to perform the ceremony, stating that Link was unfit to be Zelda's husband and the future King of Hyrule. Others inside the Hyrulean Royal Family agreed, though they mostly did so for their own selfish reasons. As such, Link became her lover, something that was scandalous for her, though Zelda did not mind, and King Nohansen had no issue with it, mostly to spite the Sages. Link frowned as he continued to read. He was surprised that the Sages would not allow the Link of this time to revive Zelda and then do everything in their power to make their lives as miserable as possible. However, he thought back to the mistakes that the Goddesses and the Light Spirits, save for Ordona, had made with the Twili and figured that the Sages might not have been perfect.

Continuing on, he read that the Sages soon started a conflict with the king, Link, and Zelda, drawing support from a number of the Hylians inside of Hyrule, but that a noticeable number of Hylians, as well as the Gorons and the Zoras, had sided with the Sages, causing Link to think that there was something that the history book was leaving out. Continuing to read, he read that the conflict was close, but that Nohansen was on the verge of victory. However, the Sages had managed to convince Young Link to use the Master Sword, as well as the powers of the Sages to flood Hyrule and seal the king and his followers. King Nohansen, however, had learned of the plan, and turned the tables on the Sages. The land of Hyrule could not be saved, but he had managed to convince the child to seal the Sages's followers underneath the sea and save the innocents of Hyrule. He then managed to at least save the people of Hyrule, transporting them to the peaks of the country. Using the powers of the Triforce, Link's eyes went wide at that revelation, he later created the floating Hyrule Castle Island, and transferred his seat to the new castle built on the island. It then read that the king had used his power to create new machines and advances in Hyrule, revolutionizing its military and weaponry and in the ten years since the flood, Hyrule went from being a second-rate kingdom compared to the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom to being the strongest and most advanced known kingdom in the world.

At that, Link closed the book and set it on the side of the bed. He then lay down in the bed, hoping to get some sleep before arriving at Hyrule Castle Island. Staring at the ceiling, he saw a painting of the battle between this time's Link and Ganon. He saw four versions of a man that looked strikingly like him standing around a large pig-like beast, each one holding a sword with two of them striking at the beast, with the beast catching one blade in his trident and blocking another while the other two were launching an attack of their own. Each Link wore a different colored tunic: one green, one red, one blue, and the other purple. He saw Young Link what looked to be a few meters away from the fight, holding the Master Sword high, ready to join the fight.

He then went over to the bookcase and looked for another book, hoping to find out more about the changes to Hyrule, particularly the culture and advances in technology. Before selecting another book, though, he went over to the window and looked out at the ocean. As he did so, he saw a small ship, only a little larger than the boat that Link had been brought to the _Hylia_ on, seemingly fleeing a larger vessel that looked to be the size of a frigate. The larger vessel was closing in on the boat and fired a single cannon shot at the boat, missing it by inches and causing a large column of water to jet from the surface a few inches away from the boat. The waves that were formed buffeted against the boat and caused it to lurch to the side. Looking out at the boat, he saw that the occupants of the smaller boat seemed to be children. Judging from their appearance, they looked to be no older than ten years old to him. His eyes went wide at the sight. Why would a frigate be chasing a boat full of children? He saw the children looking over at the _Hylia_ in what appeared to be expressions of terror and hopelessness. He soon noted that the _Hylia_ was making no moves to assist the small boat.

Wasting no time, Link gathered his belongings and exited his quarters, searching for the nearest stairwell that would take him to the main deck of the ship, nearly running over a girl who was scantily dressed and looked to be no older than thirteen years old. As he fled down the corridor he heard the girl cry, "Hey, watch it!"

He ran down two corridors until he found a stairwell that took him up to the next level. He made his way up the stairs and found himself on the next level, likely just one level away from the bridge. Fortunately, he found himself on a gun deck and found several cannons already pointing out at sea. Looking through the window, he saw the larger ship begin to toss a grappling hook towards the boat the children were fleeing on. The guns looked to be manned by several Hylian soldiers but they were doing nothing. If anything, they were joking about the situation.

"Hey look. It's one of those Kokiri boats fleein' a frigate again," one of the soldiers chuckled.

"Yeah, as if they'll get far with a dinky thing like that," another laughed. "They'd have been better off surrendering or swimming away from the boat."

"Can Kokiri even swim?" another soldier asked, snickering.

"Who knows?" the first one retorted with a snort. "But I know what they _are_ good for, heh, heh, heh." At that, the whole gun crew began to laugh.

Link's anger was boiling over. He rushed over to the gun crew and stopped right in front of them, seething. "What are you doing? There is a ship full of children that is being attacked by a frigate. Why are we doing nothing to help them?"

"Because we have to get back to the island," the first soldier scoffed.

"Why do we have to stick our necks out for a bunch of Kokiri?" the second soldier asked nonchalantly. "If they want to leave their worthless island, that's their problem. The seas are dangerous for civilians, especially for kids who look like that." The soldier finished with a lecherous sneer, unnerving Link.

"Neither the admiral, nor the captain, has authorized us to help the boat," the third soldier explained. "We have speakers that allow us to hear the admiral's orders. Besides, we are never called to help out the Kokiri. They're undesirables."

"That does not justify letting a bunch of them be murdered by slavers or pirates!"

"Then they shouldn't leave their forest," the first soldier retorted. "Their forest has some kind of magic that keeps them kids forever. We've been researching the magic so we can have fountains of youth and eternal youth treatments. They may just be some more lab kids for the experiments. Utilizing such magic without having the Triforce of Wisdom or Power on you is difficult to say the least. I have to wonder why you're acting like this. You've never stuck your neck out for them before. What's going on?"

"Let me talk to the captain now!" the hero practically ordered, ignoring the soldier's question.

The soldiers looked at each other quizzically, as if Link was out of his mind. "Do it now, before we're too far out of range to help!" the hero insisted, gripping his sword but not drawing it from its sheath.

His preparing to draw his sword caused the soldiers to take action and directed Link over to a small tube. They may not have known why Link was so bent on ensuring the safety of the Kokiri, but the last thing they wanted to do was to challenge him and cause him to decide that they were no longer worthy of their positions. They soon pointed Link to the communicator. "This tube allows you to speak with the captain of the ship," the first soldier told him. "It's magical so it uses up magical energy. Don't waste his time."

Link gripped the tube and called, "Captain, this is Link on Gun Deck one. I've spotted a boat carrying children, Kokiri as the gun crew calls them, fleeing a frigate that is almost certainly a pirate or slave ship."

"And what do you want us to do?" the captain retorted.

"See, I told ya," the soldier quipped smugly. One of the other soldiers recoiled almost in shock and stood as far away from the first soldier as possible.

"I want to help that ship!" Link cried.

"Why? Who are the Kokiri to us? They're from the magical forest. Heck, the frigate may even simply be gathering them for us."

Link was incredulous. He looked out at the ship and noticed that the larger ship was beginning to hurl grappling hooks towards the smaller boat. "The children are out of time. We have to do something?"

"What do you propose we do?" the captain snapped in question.

"Disable or sink the frigate!" the teenaged hero answered. "This ship has the firepower to sink entire fleets. Surely one frigate should be no problem!"

He could almost hear the captain's groan. He pictured the man grimacing at being spoken to by a teenager. The captain was tempted to refuse in order to see what this Link would do. Still, not wanting to start an incident that could potentially embolden any enemy force if Link lost control and managed to damage the ship or take down the frigate on his own, he said, "Gun Crew One, load the cannons and target that frigate. Disable the ship. You get one shot!"

The soldiers' eyes went wide with shock at the orders given by the captain. The first soldier took the tube and whispered into it softly, "But sir, that's a…" but he was cut off by the captain screaming, "Do as I say!"

"Y…Y…Yes, s…s…sir," the soldier stammered.

The other soldiers were too dumbfounded to move but Link did so for them, getting a large round black ball and bringing it over to the cannon. He hefted the heavy ball as if it were significantly lighter than it should have been, causing the soldiers' eyebrows to rise, wondering if he were a pure blooded Hylian. As he lifted the ball, the first soldier loaded the gunpowder into the cannon. Link then placed the ball in the barrel and pushed it in. A second soldier soon came up to use a ram to ram the ball into the cannon. Link then went to the cannon so he could aim it at the frigate's waterline. The first soldier noticed Link's measurements and said, "Woah, what are you doing? The captain said to disable the ship, not destroy it!"

"Taking down the mast will be difficult with a single shot. If we target the waterline, though, we can force the ship to worry more about staying afloat than going after the Kokiri boat."

The soldier seethed at Link's explanation but could find no fault with it. Link proceeded to aim the cannon at the ship's waterline and then lit the fuse, and stood away from the cannon. The cannon fired, Link and the rest of the gun crew covering their ears to save their hearing. The recoil from the cannon sent it flying backwards, a rope keeping it from plowing into the wall. Link watched the waterline of the attacking frigate as the cannonball hurtled through the air. The ball struck the side of the ship right at the waterline and surprisingly exploded, blowing a large hole into the frigate. The frigate listed to one side as water rushed into the breach. The ship slowed down and the crew worried more about repairing the hole in the ship, than capturing the Kokiri boat. The boat then proceeded to turn and made its way off into the distance. Looking back out at the frigate, Link noticed that the ship was continuing to list and go under. Soon, he heard several explosions come from the frigate. At first, he thought that they may have been cannon shots, but with no smoke coming from the guns, he knew it was something else. He soon found out what it was when smoke came pouring out of the hole, despite the water entering it. There was another explosion and flames shot up into the air.

"Damn," the first soldier swore. "We hit them in their powder magazine. The frigate's a goner."

The soldier was right, for the frigate was, indeed, destroyed. It took only a few more minutes for the ship to disappear beneath the water. As soon as the frigate was sunk, the captain's voice came over the speaker, saying, "Link, you are requested above deck immediately. We are close to our destination."

"Understood, sir," Link answered. He then left the gun deck and searched for the next stairwell so he could get up onto deck. As he left, the first soldier said, "We're screwed. The prince isn't going to like this at all." All the other soldiers could do was nod.

Link continued to make his way throughout the ship, looking for a stairwell that led to the main deck. As he made his way throughout the gun deck, the crews all looked at him with apprehension, wondering what he would do next. They had never seen someone stick their neck out for a group of children before. His actions were completely alien to them.

Eventually, Link found a stairwell that led to the main deck and emerged from below deck. As soon as he stepped out onto the main deck, he looked ahead and saw the ship heading towards a floating island only a couple of miles away. He could make the outlines of multiple buildings on the island, along with a castle, though the castle did not appear to be as large as Hyrule Castle. Surrounding the island was a fleet of ships that formed a ring around the island. The ships were not nearly as large as the _HRS Hylia_, but they were still relatively large. Link guessed that they were all ships of the line, with the smallest of the ships being frigates. There were spaced so that it would be virtually impossible for any enemy ship to break through the lines, even the fastest of ships would be forced to face off against more than one full-fledged warship. All of the ships looked to have metal hulls and had cannons coming out of their sides, along with several cannons pointing forward.

Link watched as the _HRS Hylia_ raised its flag to show that it was an allied ship. The flag had the emblem of the Royal Family. The _Hylia_ made its way around the island with none of the ships making a move. Eventually, Link spotted a port on the side of the island that housed several ships, some of which looked to be almost as large as the _Hylia_. The _Hylia_ turned and made its way towards the docks. The defense fleet made no moves at all as they saw the _Hylia's_ flag. As the ship approached them and made its way between two cruisers in the first line of defense, Link could tell that any enemy ship that had tried to breach the blockade would have been annihilated.

The _Hylia_ made its way through the lines and came into the floating island's harbor. As it did so, he was better able to see the island. The whole island did not seem to be quite as large as the Hyrule Castle Town of his time. In the distance, he saw the captain standing behind the helmsman and looking out over the island. The captain was a tall Hylian soldier with short brown hair, gray eyes, and wearing silver armor. Next to the captain was a soldier that was dressed in an even more decorated uniform. Link suspected that this was the admiral of the fleet the _Hylia_ belonged to. As Link approached the two of them, the admiral turned and gave the Hylian a hearty smile. "Welcome Link." He then showed Link the deck of the ship. Crew members were working at their posts and marines were standing ready just in case some ship was stupid enough to try to break through the blockade over Hyrule Castle Island and attack the ship, or if one of the ships in the blockade decided to turn traitor and try to either capture or sink the _Hylia_. Many of them were staring at Link, news of Link's exploits having quickly traveled across the ship. "So, what do you think of the ship?" the admiral asked.

"I think that this is a magnificent ship. I've never seen anything like it before."

"If you think this is good, just wait until you see Hyrule Castle Island."

Link gave a smile, seemingly indicating that he was looking forward to it once he had the time. Still, first thing was first. He needed to make his report to the King of Hyrule. He wanted to make sure that the king knew that he was a friend, as well as find out what was going on and if there was anything he could do to help out with the kingdom. Still, he could not help but think that there was something else going on here. The admiral then went up to him and said, "Sorry about the confusion, earlier with the slave frigate. It's just that we were not prepared for a battle. By the way, was it you who fired the cannon?"

Link nodded.

"Remarkable shot for someone who has never been on a ship like this in his life."

"Thank you, sir," Link answered.

"So, how was your trip, Link?" the captain asked, stepping forward from the admiral's side. "Were all of your desires seen to satisfactorily?"

"Yes, eventually," Link answered. The captain gave no reaction to Link's answer.

It only took a couple of minutes for the ship to dock and for the boarding platforms to be extended. Once they were, Link and his escort were free to leave the ship. Four Hyrulean Knights came up to him dressed in their silver armor and armed with their rifles, as Link had read they were called in the books in his guest quarters. He was guided to the boarding ramps and ushered through them. Only he and the four guards were disembarking from the vessel, and onto Hyrule Castle Island. Once they did so, the ship retracted the ramps and began to pull away from the dock. As they did so, the captain turned to the admiral and said, "My apologies for earlier. I promise it won't happen again."

"Don't worry about it," the admiral answered. "We'll track them down later. Right now, we have to join the rest of the fleet massing near Ordona Province. This is our chance to make the big push into Ordon Village and we can't let it go to waste."

"But what about Link?"

"Let the others deal with him. He's their problem now," the admiral answered, pointing towards the guards that were escorting Link around the island.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The guards escorted Link throughout Hyrule Castle Island, each one keeping a close eye on the hero. They could easily see his sword, shield, bow, and quiver. They knew that he was dangerous, too. They had been soldiers during the troubled times a decade ago, just before the flood. They knew that this was not just another escort mission, and they knew that something was wrong with this Link. They had heard from others on the gun deck as to what he had done to the slaver frigate and had managed to sink it with one shot before they had managed to capture their quarry. They kept looking at his left hand, expecting to see the symbol of the Triforce but none appeared. They began to suspect that something was amiss when they saw how he wore his sword, which was the reverse of how Link had originally done so. They looked at his right hand to see if he had the Triforce symbol on that hand, but they found none there, either.

Link looked around the town as the soldiers guided him down the street and into the town, itself. The buildings did not look to be much more advanced than those in the Hyrule Castle Town of his time. They were made of brick, stone, and mortar, had roofs made of tiles, and generally had wooden doors. The people around the island also did not look to be that much different from the people around Hyrule Castle Town. They had similar styles of clothes, along with seemingly a similar level of technology, a far cry from the advanced weapons wielded by the Hyrulean soldiers. They placed their wet clothes on lines outside their houses, some had dogs, and others simply seemed to be alone. One thing Link noticed was that each of the people that he saw did not look to be happy in the slightest. He found resentment in their eyes as they looked at the soldiers, and even as their gazes met his, many of them scowling while others simply hid behind others or went back to work, hoping that they were not noticed by the hero or his escorts. As Link began to look out over the town once more, he began to notice something else. There were no children outside to speak of. There was even a lack of teenagers present.

"What is going on?" Link asked the soldiers.

One of the soldiers turned to him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"What is going on here?" Link asked again. "The people don't appear to be all that happy to see us. Also, I don't see any children outside. Where are they?"

"Likely in school," one of the guards answered, seemingly suppressing a chuckle.

Link looked at the position of the sun and noticed that it was beginning to get pretty low, which meant that depending on the season, school should either be letting out soon, or that it should be over and children should be playing. "What time does school start?" Link asked.

"Six o'clock in the morning," the first soldier answered.

"And it gets out at six in the evening," the second finished.

"Don't you think that's a long time to keep a child in school, especially if they're young?" Link asked. In Ordon Village, children that gained formal education went to school at around eight and, depending on their age, either stayed in class until noon or, for the numbered grades, stayed in class until three o'clock in the afternoon. He could tell that it was already later than three, which seemed to be confirmed when he looked over at a small structure on a wall that gave off a ticking sound. There were hands pointing at certain numbers on the side of a circle. If he read it correctly, the time was about four-thirty P.M.

"It's how it is now," another soldier shrugged, indicating that he may have had issues with this as well.

"What subjects do they learn?" Link asked.

"The usual: reading, writing, math, science, magic, the list goes on," the first soldier answered.

Link let the conversation end there as he was guided down the street. It was not long before they came to what looked to be a more robust part of the town. Here, there were a number of people and stands that offered a variety of wares. Link wanted to take a look around to see what they were offering but as soon as he went to explore, the soldiers went up to him and told him, "Sir, our orders are to report to the king. We should not keep him waiting."

Link nodded and continued to let them guide him through the town square. There was a fountain directly in front of him. Standing in front of the fountain were two soldiers armed with halberds that had a blade on one part and a pole with what looked to be a crystal on the upper end. They looked at Link and the soldiers and snapped to attention, saluting the hero and the soldiers. Link looked downcast and the soldiers subtly shook their heads. The soldiers immediately lowered their hands and gripped their weapons, keeping the poles resting on the ground. As Link and the others walked past, the soldiers glanced at each other and whispered to each other inaudibly to the ears of the soldiers. Link could hear their whispering, but could not make out what was being said.

Looking around, he saw a potion shop and an item shop. He took stock of his inventory and noted that he was low on arrows and had used some bombs. He hoped that the shops sold useful items, should he need to go on another quest, and he had a strong feeling that he was about to be asked to embark on another quest. As he continued to look around, he caught sight of a child looking out the window of a building. As soon as he turned to look at the child, the child ducked out of his view before he could get a good look at either him or her, but he had the feeling that the child was terrified. The curtains over the window promptly closed. He strongly suspected that if the house had not already been locked before he looked at it, it was now. The suddenness of the child ducking out of his view also had Link worrying that something was wrong.

"How is security around here?" he asked.

"It's fine," one of the soldiers answered. "Crime is virtually non-existent. That's due to the fact that no one is armed."

"Are you sure?" Link asked skeptically.

"Well, there are always a few holdouts," the soldier answered. "But we go around making sweeps to make sure no one is hiding anything illegal."

"What is illegal?" Link asked.

"Anything that's a weapon. No blades, bows, arrows, bombs, or slingshots. The soldiers are the security for town. For the most part, people are cooperating and everything goes smoothly."

Link's concerns began to grow at an alarming rate. In the Hyrule of his time, there were no weapons restrictions and everyone was strongly encouraged to have a weapon should brigands and bandits try to attack them, or if the kingdom ever came under attack from outside forces. Rusl had said that in Ordon, people were armed for another reason: to keep the government from becoming tyrannical, since the village was run by a duly elected mayor. Not only that, but Ordona Province, being a small province, did not have a standing army, so everyone had to fight should they be invaded. The fact that people were not allowed to be armed disturbed the hero greatly and he began to wonder if there was a good reason for him to receive all of those scowls, or if they were even solely directed at him. His expression showed his concern, which the soldiers quickly picked up on, despite the fact that he had not voiced any real concerns.

"Don't worry too much about the security of the town," the first soldier assured the hero. "The Hyrulean Knights and Soldiers have everything well in hand. The people can trust us to protect them." Link could not help but notice that the soldier had an air of superiority about him as he uttered those words.

He said nothing more as he walked through the square. Still, there was something that was not right about the situation. The soldiers guided him down another street and he could tell that everyone was keeping their doors locked. He saw other soldiers knocking on doors to the houses, the soldiers saying, "This is the Knights of Hyrule. Open up, we need to search the premises."

Link was ready to take action should something bad happen and he made ready to grab his sword before the first guard gripped his arm and shook his head. "This is a routine patrol. This area is a notorious part of town. I wish that we could take the more scenic route to the castle, but we have to get to the castle as quickly as possible. Don't worry, sir, we'll vouch for you."

The soldier's word would soon be put to the test as the armored Knights soon noticed the soldiers and Link. Seeing that Link was armed the Knights went up to them and held up their hands. "Halt," the lead Knight commanded. "Identify yourselves!"

"I am Hugo, son of William," the first soldier answered loudly. "And these are my companions," he added, motioning towards his companions. "Logan, son of Henry," indicating the second soldier, "Horace, son of Carl, Peter, son of Ferdinand," indicating the other two soldiers, "and Link."

"_The_ Link?" the two Knights asked in unison.

Hugo shook his head. "No, this Link comes from the past. We have already talked to the prince and the king and they both want him to report to them as quickly as possible."

"And you're letting him into the prince's presence armed?" one of the Knights asked incredulously.

"He _is_ a Link. He is a hero of Hyrule and, thus, is cleared to be able to wield his sword and shield, even in the presence of the king. After all, he killed the Sorceress of Shadows, Veran."

"Woah," the second Knight said, whistling. "A teen did that? There really must be something to this kid, then." The Knights then stood aside. "By all means, you may pass. Just be on the lookout. Some of the people here aren't too fond of soldiers, or heroes."

"We will," Hugo answered, saluting the Knights. The Knights returned the salute and proceeded with their search while Hugo and the others led Link to the castle in the distance.

As they approached the castle, Link stared at it and noted that it did not look to be nearly as large as the castle from the original Hyrule Castle Town. It had the same structure, having a tall main tower in the center with several surrounding towers in the cardinal directions with walls. The group soon approached the gates that led to the castle, itself. Standing at the gates were two Knights of Hyrule. The Knights of Hyrule stood at attention as the soldiers approached and lowered their halberds, barring the way. "Do you have authorization to see the prince?" the soldiers asked in unison.

Hugo reached into a holster and pulled out a sheet of paper and presented it to the Knight. "Everything is there, sir," the soldier said. The Knights then looked over the paper and then looked down at the soldiers and noticed Link, particularly the fact that he was armed.

"Is he authorized to enter the castle?" the Knights asked gruffly, pointing directly at the young hero.

"He is the reason we were summoned," Hugo answered. "The prince wishes to see him, personally."

"Very well, then," the Knight said cautiously, handing the paper back to Hugo. "You may proceed. Make sure that if you do anything that is untoward or puts the prince's life in any type of danger, we will execute you, any and all of you."

"Understood."

The soldiers then ushered Link through the gates and into the courtyard. The castle's courtyard was smaller than the previous castle's had been, much like everything else about the island from what the hero could see. There were no watch towers, save for those already built into the castle, itself, though there were a number of guards. These guards were dressed in the same type of armor that the Knights of Hyrule were clad in, but they did not have their swords or their halberds. These soldiers simply had weapons that looked like rifles, but Link saw a space below the barrel that looked like it could mount a blade, save for the fact that there seemed to be a glowing crystal. He also noted that these rifles looked to be made of a better quality of metal. They were silver and shined whenever light shown down on them. The holes of the rifles also looked to be a little bigger and Link could not find anyplace to put any ammunition. Thinking back to what he read, he suspected that they were wielding some form of magical weapon.

He looked up at the castle walls and saw that they were manned by many more Knights of Hyrule. Despite the fact that they were on an island, the castle was very well defended. There were cannons mounted on the walls and there was a moat where Link spotted a number of motorboats on patrol. These boats looked just like the one that Link had boarded to go to the _H.R.S. Hylia_ and were also armed accordingly, though he suspected that the cannonballs or shots that were fired were designed to be used against enemy infantry or cavalry, rather than against other boats or ships.

The group continued to make its way to the castle. As they approached, two Knights stepped forward and held out their hands. "Halt. No one is allowed into the Island Castle without authorization," one of the Knights bellowed. As the Knight made his proclamation, the soldiers on the wall all pointed their weapons, rifles and longbows, down at Link and the soldiers.

"And you are right to insist," Hugo said, presenting the Knight with his papers. "The prince sent word for us, all of us," he added, motioning towards Link, "to come to Hyrule Castle Island at once and to speak with him directly."

The Knight looked at the papers and examined them carefully, his partner not taking his eyes off of the four soldiers and Link, none of the soldiers, nor the hero, making any moves that could be deemed threatening. After a few seconds, the guard handed the papers back to Hugo and told him, "Everything seems to check out. You may pass." The Knight then focused on Link. "But before you go, I must ask that your companion relinquish his weapons."

"With respect, sir Knight, Link is a great hero who killed the Sorceress of Shadows Veran…" Hugo began.

"No blades, no bows, all weapons must be left at the gate," the Knight bellowed. "You know the law, Hugo, son of William. No one except for soldiers is allowed to carry weapons into Hyrule Castle."

"I know the law, sir Knight, but Link is a great hero. The prince and the king both requested his presence in the castle," Hugo contested.

Before the argument could go any further, though, Link stepped forward and unslung his sword and shield, laying them before the Knight. Hugo's eyes went wide. "But Link, you're a hero."

"It's okay," Link answered. "I'm a hero out of time. I am basically nothing more than a visitor to the castle. I will abide by the laws of the land."

The hero then unslung his bow and his quiver of arrows, laying them next to his sword and shield. He then took out his bomb bags and placed them on the ground, too. The Knights' eyes went wide as they saw the arsenal that Link had removed from his person and his sack. The first Knight also looked down and noticed that Link's sword was not made by any smith in Hyrule.

"Hey Link, that is a fine looking sword," the Knight said before Link could follow the other soldiers into the castle. "Where did you get it from?"

"It was made in my home village," Link answered.

"And what is your home village?"

"Ordon Village. It is located in Ordona Province. I'm from the past, but in my time, Ordona Province was not a part of Hyrule proper."

"I see," the Knight said, almost in a crafty voice. Still, it almost sounded as if the Knight was trying to keep from losing his lunch at the sound that such a fine sword was made in Ordon Village, or that Link, himself, was from Ordon Village. The hero was beginning to wonder why the Knight was acting like that.

"Don't worry about them," Hugo told the hero. "They won't try to steal your weapons, not while the prince is here to vouch for you."

"I know," Link answered politely. Still, he was beginning to be suspicious of the Knights.

The soldiers led Link into the castle. When they entered, they went down a small corridor that opened out into a large main hallway. They stopped and let Link look around the main hallway. The hallway was greatly reminiscent of the previous Hyrule Castle that Link had visited, and liberated, before. The tiles were made of marble and were colored silver and black. There were balconies to the right and left and they looked down into the main hall. Standing on the balconies were a group of archers, four for each balcony. They were armed with what looked to be bows that were similar to Link's Hero's Bow, but he could tell from the sacks next to them that they were armed with explosive arrows. "Hmm. Looks like the interior defenses are still outdated," Logan noted.

"Most of the elite soldiers are off trying to pacify some of the outer provinces of Hyrule ever since the war ten years ago," Hugo explained. "While the major enemy armies have been beaten, there are still holdouts all over Hyrule and in its surrounding provinces. The stiffest resistance comes from Ordon Village."

"Why would Ordon Village want to fight Hyrule?" the hero asked. He carefully studied Hugo as the soldier gave his answer.

"Ordon has always been an independent village and province. Its Light Spirit is separate from the rest of the Light Spirits that watch over Hyrule, only working with the other three in times of great need, as seen when Ordona refused to stop the Dark Interlopers from gaining the Triforce so long ago."

"There was good reason for Ordona to stop them," Link interrupted. "The Interlopers were right and everyone else was wrong."

"What happened?"

"The War in the Heavens. You've heard of it, right?"

Hugo nodded. "It's been called the War of the Gods in Hyrule. It was when the gods of Hyrule and the gods of another realm clashed to see who would get Hyrule. The Golden Goddesses and the other gods of Hyrule won. But I fail to see how the Interlopers had anything to do with it or how it could have been avoided."

Link thought about correcting the soldier and explaining further, but there was something in Hugo's voice that gave Link pause, almost as if the soldier were trying to glean some information from him. Link decided to keep quiet and say nothing. "There," Hugo said pompously. "The Interlopers were simply stupid and made enemies with everyone else. You know what they say about power, don't you?"

Link nodded. The group continued to make their way down the hall, walking past the guards that were on patrol. They approached the doors at the end of the hall, which were protected by two heavily armored Knights of Hyrule. These Knights not only had rifles, but also swords, shields, and there was a cannon between them. Hugo stepped forward and showed the guards their papers. The guards nodded and stepped aside to allow the soldiers and the unarmed hero to pass.

As they made their way past the soldiers, Horace quipped, "Man, something must have happened. I've never seen a cannon _inside_ the castle before."

"It's for security," Hugo answered in an annoyed tone. "Chances are that it's just armed with some stones and munitions designed for fighting off hordes of infantry."

"I'd think it would be a little late if the enemy is already inside the castle," Peter countered.

Hugo sighed and let the matter drop as he led Link through the corridor. Looking around, he saw that the walls were decorated with paintings of a hero that looked remarkably similar to him, along with Zelda. He also saw some pictures of a man who had gray hair and a beard, wearing a long red robe and a crown. He believed the man was likely King Nohansen. He also saw a large number of statues lining the corridor. They seemed to represent King Nohansen since they looked much like the man in the paintings. There were also some pictures of a younger man. Link suspected that that was the prince.

The group continued down the corridor until they came to a large set of gold double doors. Standing before the set of double doors were two soldiers that resembled Knights of Hyrule, but wore golden armor and carried very large halberds with crystals on the ends of the weapons. Link strongly suspected that they could shoots bolts or beams of magic at an enemy. The soldiers did not move as the group approached them. Hugo and the others reached the doors, and the Knights, and presented their papers to the Knights. The Knights looked at the papers and told them, "Hugo, you and your squad must remain out here. Only Link is allowed into the prince's presence."

"But we were summoned to see…"

"Our orders are to only let Link in to see the prince. All others must wait outside," the Knight interrupted harshly.

Hugo and the others let out a groan of displeasure as the guards motioned for Link to step forward and enter. Link stepped forward and went through the large double doors as one of the guards pushed them open for him. One of the younger soldiers was tempted to try to sneak past the Knights and join Link, but thought better of it when stories of how certain mischievous people had been beheaded on the spot for such idiocy. As such, the soldiers remained outside as Link entered to see the prince.

The inner hall of the castle was spacious and well decorated. The space was almost as large as the throne room of the Hyrule Castle of his time. There was a red carpet that extended from the door to the hall all the way to the end of the room. There was a large table in the center of the room, with numerous other tables being situated all throughout the hall. The tables were covered with silk cloths of many different colors, with a gold cloth adorning the long table in the middle. There were plates and cups set at the table in the center, along with a large golden bowl that looked like it did not belong, for it seemed to have a small pole jutting out from the center that did not quite reach the top of the bowl. The table in the middle looked like it could seat more than thirty individuals comfortably. Knights of Hyrule stood at attention all around the room, each of them dressed in the same golden armor that the Knights outside the room had worn. They were also armed similarly, too, only these Knights had side arms holstered at their waists. There were also workers and servants mulling about the room, setting the tables and coming from back rooms that Link suspected were kitchens.

Standing at the other end of the hall was a man who looked to be about the same age as Link. He had short brown hair and green eyes. He did not wear any armor that Link could see. He was adorned in what looked to be regal attire. He wore a clean blue shirt that looked like it had been made specifically for this occasion. The shirt had golden buttons and there were medals hanging from his left breast. The prince wore white pants and had what looked to be a ceremonial sword sheathed on his waist. The prince also wore a silver crown on his head. The prince looked right at Link and began to approach the hero. The prince gave Link a hearty smile as he approached.

"So this is the Link that took down the Sorceress of Shadows Veran. I'm glad you accepted the invitation to come."

"I did not see much choice considering I was trapped in the Arbiter's Grounds," Link answered. "And thank you for inviting me to the castle."

"So, now that you've had a chance to see at least part of the castle, as well as the kingdom, what do you think?"

Link thought about the question for a bit before answering, "I don't know. The castle is fine, but I think that something is off in Hyrule. The people are more withdrawn, the security is tighter, understandably so, and things seem to have taken a darker turn in the last decade, if the history I've read is any indication."

"You're right about that," the prince said, nodding almost seemingly wistfully. His expression soon picked up and he proclaimed, "But enough about the deficiencies we can't control, yet. Right now, let's eat. You've undoubtedly had a long journey and I would like to hear about it during dinner." He then snapped his fingers and called out to the staff, "Prepare us a meal fit for a king! We have a hero in our midst. We have to show him the best Hyrule has to offer!"

The staff immediately saluted and replied, "Yes, my lord," and went about the task of preparing a meal for the prince and Link. The prince motioned for Link to sit near him at the head of the table. Link accepted his position as a number of other people came to the table with them. Looking at them, Link wondered who they were. As if sensing the hero's question, the prince said, "These are the various nobles of Hyrule that survived the flood. They have been essential in us reestablishing dominion over the majority of the islands that now consist of the Kingdom of Hyrule."

Soon, a herald came out and began to announce the names of each of the nobles that were sitting at the table with Link and the prince. Despite their nobility, Link had the suspicion that the prince viewed him as the most important guest at the table. "Presenting the most noble Prince Daphnes Hyrule, Prince of the Kingdom of Hyrule, Lord Marshal of the Armies of Hyrule, Heir to the throne of Hyrule!" Prince Daphnes took his seat at the head of the table. The herald then continued, "Presenting Duke Ferdinand, Duke of Eldin Province, Knight General of the Armies of Eldin!" A tall Hylian man with brown hair and blue eyes came and took his seat next to the prince opposite Link's position. "Presenting the most noble Duchess Catherine, Duchess of Faron Province, Knight General of the Armies of Faron." A beautiful Hylian woman with long blond hair and green eyes took her seat next to Duke Ferdinand. As she sat, she noticed Link and gave him a coy wink and smile. She was less than impressed when Link simply nodded back and smiled kindly to her. "And presenting Duke Magnus, Duke of Lanayru Province, Knight Marshal of the Armies of Hyrule, Knight General of the Armies of Lanayru." Another tall Hylian man sat at the table. He had pitch-black hair with graying temples along with blue eyes and a stern expression. Still, the herald continued, "Presenting Duke Martin, Duke of Kokiri Forest in Faron Province, Lord Admiral of the Navies of Hyrule." A man with gray hair, standing almost as tall as Prince Daphnes took his seat next to Duke Magnus. The three other dukes smirked as he sat down. They did not think that a seaman deserved to have a seat at the prince's table. Daphnes disagreed and admonished, "Cut it out! Martin is the reason your forces can go onto the islands and reclaim them from pirates and brigands at all."

The others looked down at the table and scowled. Link thought that he could see a gleam from one of their eyes, Duke Magnus. The herald then went through the names of the various border nobles, barons, and earls that were present at the meal. The whole process took more time than Link cared to remember. Eventually, everyone was seated, but before the meal began, Prince Daphnes stood up and extended his right hand. A green ball of energy formed in front of his hand and he then released it. It flew through the air and into the golden bowl in the middle of the table. The bowl glowed for a few seconds and then a beam of light shot into the air. Soon, the image of an older man formed. This man looked to be in his late fifties to early sixties. He had gray hair that fell to about his shoulders and blue eyes. He also sported a gray mustache and a medium length beard. As soon as the image appeared, everyone at the table rose and bowed before the king. "King Nohansen," the nobles at the table said, bowing.

"Father," Prince Daphnes said, bowing.

"Is he here?" King Nohansen asked forcefully.

Prince Daphnes nodded. "He is." He then motioned towards Link. "This is Link, from Hyrule before the flood. He is the one who killed Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows."

"An impressive feat," the king said approvingly.

"Any of us could have killed Veran if given the opportunity," Duke Martin scoffed.

"But you didn't," Prince Daphnes retorted harshly. "Your navies had access to her temple but your forces were unable to defeat her."

"I only control the navies!" Martin retorted. "It was Magnus's troops that were supposed to get the job done!"

"And you were supposed to give my troops all of the information needed to inform us as to how to stop Veran!" Magnus shouted.

"It was still your responsibility to take her down!" Martin roared. "Instead, we had to rely on a boy out of time to defeat the Sorceress of Shadows. And to make things even more incredible, he did so with normal weapons and a Mirror Shield!"

Link wondered how the duke had learned of that and was about to ask when he saw how the dukes were still arguing and he decided to not indulge his curiosity. Chances were that they had learned of it due to them having magical powers much like the Prince. He simply sat back and waited for the argument to come to an end.

"We could have done it!" Magnus roared.

"Again, you didn't!" came the voice of Duchess Catherine.

"Stop this bickering at once!" Prince Daphnes roared at the top of his lungs. The other dukes looked at him and he glared at each and every one of them. "This is pointless. Besides, we have a guest, and more important things to worry about than who is to blame for Veran not dying until a visitor came to us. Right now, we must focus on the task at hand, namely the pirates that are hiding in Ordona Province." The prince then turned to Link. "Link, you came from Ordona Province, did you not?"

Link nodded.

"Then you know the types of defenses that the people of Ordon Village may have."

"That I doubt," Link said. "I am from the Ordon Village of the past. And from the sounds of it, it sounds like pirates have taken over the village. I doubt that I would be of much use to you here. Besides, the people of Ordon Village are peaceful. We only fight when our backs are to the wall. Besides, most of Hyrule is flooded. I don't know how that would affect Ordona, or if it is even inhabited by its original inhabitants. The fact that pirates seem to be using it as a staging area would suggest that it is not."

"What types of weaponry can we expect to face in Ordon Village?" the prince asked. "What were the weapons used by its original inhabitants?"

"The usual," Link answered. "Swords, bows, sticks, and slingshots."

"This is getting us nowhere. He knows nothing of what has changed in the world," Duchess Catherine scoffed, directing her annoyance at the other dukes and even the prince. "Ordon Village is far more advanced than simple bows and arrows. What we need to know is what their true defenses are."

"Still, the boy is from the village," the king countered sagely, causing the others to turn to face him. "He knows the lay of the land, and may have knowledge of secret areas where the pirates may be able to hide or store weaponry. Do not underestimate his usefulness, even if he is a hero out of time. Much of his weaponry is still in use by the common citizenry to this day, those few that are still allowed to carry weapons, that is."

Link could swear that he heard a contemptuous note in the king's voice. "Besides, the previous heroes still used swords, shields, and bows," the king added.

"Yes, father, but we need more than potential hiding places for defenders, or rather, pirates," the prince added quickly, "from a boy who is centuries out of date with the village."

"Link is still a hero," the king countered. "His presence alone could cause the pirates to surrender. After all, he defeated Veran. Chances are that news of his feat has likely spread across the islands." The king then turned to the other nobles and told them, "You may depart now. There are pressing matters that I must discuss with my son and Link alone."

The eyes of the nobles went wide at the proclamation. "Sire, you wish to leave an Ordonian alone with the prince of Hyrule?" Duke Ferdinand queried.

"Are you questioning me?" King Nohansen roared.

"No, my liege," the duke stammered quickly. The king's outburst caused the other nobles present to get out of their chairs and kneel before the king, all save for the prince and Link, who was suddenly growing very concerned.

The king then spoke again, "Dukes Ferdinand, Catherine, and Magnus, you are to join Duke Martin in going to Ordona Province and clearing it of all pirates and other undesirables. I don't want any excuses for failure this time. These pirates have been nipping at our heels for far too long. They must be dealt with, permanently!"

"Yes, sire," the dukes answered much more calmly this time. They then bowed and filed out of the room, the guards opening the doors to the hallway so they could make a quick exit.

The king then looked at the other nobles and had them give him their reports. They reported that the Zoras were troubling the fleets of Hyrule and launching raids on the shipping lanes of Hyrule, something that had surprised Link greatly. The Zoras had always been loyal to Hyrule, he wondered why they would suddenly turn traitor. He then heard that the Gorons were still trapped in Death Mountain and were not a problem. That statement of the Gorons not being a problem also troubled Link, though he wondered if he should simply write it off as the king and nobles being overly cautious since the Zoras had turned traitor. The Gerudos were not making too much noise, either, though many had believed that the Gerudos were now pirates, rather than thieves or nomadic soldiers. The Sheikahs were loyal to the crown and had been serving it loyally ever since the flood, save for one, whose whereabouts were still unknown.

After the nobles had given their report, the king told them, "You all may depart now, too. I need to have a private discussion with my son and Link."

The nobles rose and bowed before the king not questioning him or giving any words of protest, having learned their lesson from Duke Ferdinand. The nobles then filed out of the room, leaving it all to King Nohansen, Prince Daphnes, and Link.

As soon as the nobles had departed, King Nohansen looked gravely down at Link. "Link, as you have heard from the reports the other nobles gave, things are not going all that well in Hyrule. Despite the cheerful façade we are showing, things are not going nearly as well as others would think. You have already heard that the Zoras have turned traitor. As for the Gorons, we don't know since they're underneath Death Mountain, only the peak of which is still above water. There are some Goron merchants, but they are not representative of the entire race. The Kokiri are content on their own little island and are not against us. That just leaves the Sages."

The prince then approached Link and gave him a grave look. "Link, how much history of the last decade have you read?"

"A bit," the teen answered.

"Then you know that the Sages flooded Hyrule in an attempt to drown it and the evil in it. We were barely able to get our people up to the highest points of the kingdom before it was flooded. The Sages have always been the main problem. That is why we have not gone after the Zoras with the same zeal that we go after the pirates with."

"The Sages were the ones who performed a magical seal in order to place all of the people beneath Hyrule in suspended animation," the king elaborated. "I merely switched our people with the ones that were loyal to the Sages. However, at the eve of the battle, when we were on the verge of victory, a newcomer appeared as if from nowhere, much like you did. He singlehandedly turned the tide of the battle and forced us back. Eventually, he fought against my daughter and Link and managed to distract them long enough for the Sages to escape, and nearly stopped the boy from being able to save my people as the land was being flooded. Some even theorize that the newcomer was the one who indeed flooded Hyrule, itself."

"Do you know who this newcomer was?" Link asked, looking back and forth at the prince and the king.

Both shook their heads. "We do not," Prince Daphnes answered. "All I know is that she, I mean he, there was a debate as to the newcomer's gender since he looked like a monster but sounded more feminine," the prince added quickly, "was capable of fighting off two people who had the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage in their hands, something that should be virtually unheard of unless the newcomer had a powerful artifact of his own."

Link listened to the story carefully, but was beginning to grow a little concerned, something that the king seemingly caught onto. He nodded subtly at the prince and continued, "Link, if this unknown warrior has a powerful artifact that may have been able to fight off two pieces of the Triforce, then sh…excuse me, _he_, might be able to escape the seal. In the battle, the boy, I'll call him Young Link, was slain by the newcomer who used some form of shadow magic. You must go to the Temple of Time and check on the seal. Be warned, though, there is another enemy on the loose that you might have to be concerned about. His name is General Onox. He is a knight that has been attacking people in Faron Province. He is responsible for the murders of four families, including eight children. Despite his attacks on the weak, he is still a powerful soldier and killed a squadron of twelve Knights of Hyrule, including a Hyrulean Mage. He won't likely attack you underwater, but be warned. He may attack you before you go find the temple." The king gave a pause and looked at Link and Daphnes before continuing, "Link, I have a theory that the Master Sword may be the key to receding the flood waters and restoring the land of Hyrule. Right now, much of my army is away at the moment, dealing with the war between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom so we are a little shorthanded on the home front. I'll be coming home soon, though. You must go and see if this is the case. You are capable of pulling the Master Sword, something that even Daphnes here is unable to do. You must first go to Zora's Domain and get a Zora Tunic and likely then go to Death Mountain for the Iron Boots so you can make it down to the bottom of the sea."

"That should be no problem at all," Link told them. "I already have Zora Armor, so I should be ready to go."

The king and prince's eyes went wide at what Link had told them. "You can carry Iron Boots and Zora Armor along with all of your other equipment?" the prince asked incredulous at what Link was saying.

Link nodded. "I received a magic sack that allowed me to store them. Once I get it back, I'll be ready to go."

"Excellent," King Nohansen proclaimed.

Daphnes turned towards his father and asked, "What are my orders, Father?"

"You stay in the castle for the time being," the king answered. "I need to have you here as the sole living heir to the throne. Once everything is done, and I am back, you can go and finish off the pirates and the other malcontents. Give Link his instructions."

Daphnes then turned to face Link and told him, "I've already called back the _H.R.S. Hylia_ and it should be ready to meet you at the dock tomorrow morning. I've also instructed the guards to give you all of your weapons back. You are free to move around the castle armed if you wish to shop for any last minute items before you go on your new quest. We already have a guest quarters waiting for you in one of the visitors' towers. But first, stay and have dinner with the rest of us. Now is the time for festivities."

"Thank you, my lord," Link answered, bowing.

"You're welcome," the prince stated.

Link then sat down and waited as the rest of the dukes and nobles were led back into the hall. They each took their seat and were served by the staff. There were all sorts of foods presented to the nobles and Link. There was beef, pork, veal, venison, fish, an assortment of breads, fruits, and vegetables, too. Link ate to his heart's content, choosing at least a sampling of everything so he could decide what his main meal would be. He eventually settled on venison since he had never had it before, venison being restricted to the tables of the king and the fact that even though Ordona Province had not been a part of Hyrule proper, it still abided by the rules not to hunt deer unless the population was out of control. He also had some fruits and vegetables, along with some spring water. Daphnes had tried to get Link to drink some wine, but since the legal drinking age in Ordon Village was twenty-one, Link declined. Despite this, Daphnes still tried to get Link to have some wine, saying that he was in Hyrule now, and since he was a court with the Prince of Hyrule and much of Hyrule's nobility, he was free from any of those restrictions. Link thanked him but still declined.

Midway through the feast, the prince rose before the assembly and asked, "So, what do you think? Is this satisfactory?"

"Yeah!" the assembly cheered; all save for Link, who simply nodded.

"Well, it's about to get better. Please welcome tonight's entertainment, the Violets!"

Link wondered who the Violets were for a second until a curtain at the end of the room was retracted and it was revealed that the Violets were a performing troupe. They consisted of a band that had a young male Hylian with brown hair and blue eyes playing the drums, a blond-haired Hylian male playing the bass, a brunette Hylian female playing a wind instrument that greatly resembled a trumpet, and finally a blond-haired Hylian woman as the singer. Link suspected that the singer was likely the sister of the bass player. He also noted that they looked to be young, barely his age, if that. After the band came out, he saw a line of female dancers wearing revealing dresses of various colors that showed off a large portion of their legs, those that covered a part of the legs. Most of them were Hylian, but he noticed that a few of them seemed to be Human. There were also some Zoras among the dancers, too. Looking at them, he could tell that they were young, younger than he was. The oldest of them was no older than him, and the youngest looked to be barely in her teens. Link glanced at the nobles present and could see the males grinning lecherously at the female performers and dancers. The female nobles simply gave shrugs. He scowled at the nobles, but no one seemed to notice his disapproval. It was not long before the band began their performance while some of those not completely enthralled with the band and dancers still ate.

As the music began to play, he noted that it had a calming, yet seductive sound. The singer's voice fit that description as well, as did her looks, for she was dressed just as scantily as the dancers. Fortunately, she was older than Link. Link noted that the music was unlike anything he had ever heard in Ordona Province before, or what had been described as having been played in Hyrule. He had remembered reading during research in his early attempt to get to the Twilight Realm just after Midna had returned that the Hero of Time had gone to another world and had heard a strange and unknown style of music. He began to wonder if this music was the same style of music described by the Hero of Time.

He then focused his gaze on the dancers, who were all dancing seductively to the music, sometimes interspersing their dancing with clapping or snapping their fingers. He could hear the nobles whistling and hooting, something that put his hair on end. Link focused his gaze back on the dancers and noted that they did not have the same enthusiasm for the music that the performers did, or even the nobles. He could see fear in their eyes, fear, sadness, and hopelessness. He turned his attention back to the nobles and even the prince. They were all grinning at the performance. He had a feeling that their attention was not directed solely at the singer, either.

The performance went on for more than an hour. The nobles were all grinning while Link simply remained still and silent, his face not betraying anything of what he was feeling. As the performance was winding down, one of the nobles looked over to him and asked, "So, what do you think? Hot, aren't they?"

"I think they're young, particularly the dancers," Link answered in a disapproving tone.

"So what? They're still hot!" the noble blurted out as he cheered as he looked back at the performance.

Link simply scowled. He focused back on the dancers and gave them a sympathetic look. They did not notice him, though.

It was not too long after that the performance came to an end. After the performance came to an end, the nobles all stood up and cheered, whistling and hollering. The band members all bowed and retreated back behind the curtain as it came down. The dancers also retreated, which caused the nobles to groan audibly. It was then that Prince Daphnes stood up and proclaimed, "That was great, wasn't it? The Violets sure are hot, as are the dancers."

"Yeah," came the response from the male nobles.

"And don't worry girls, we've got entertainment for you, too," the prince told the female nobles. "Well, we've still got dessert to partake in, too."

As if on cue, there a group of servants came in presenting dessert for the nobles and all that were gathered at the court. The dessert course consisted of numerous cakes, cookies, and other pastries that were presented for the court. The entire court soon partook in what could only be described as an orgy. That is, all save for Link. Link had had enough and was satisfied, only taking a small portion of a cake to be polite to his host. The nobles did not have the same control, though. They partook in dessert until they had had their fill, and even more. Some nobles even fought with each other over getting a certain dessert. Link's eyes went wide at the scene. Fortunately, Prince Daphnes and the dukes of the provinces managed to separate the two nobles before it came to actual violence.

Eventually, even the most seemingly insatiable of nobles had had their fill and they were satisfied, mostly because they had consumed all of the dessert. Once that was finished, the nobles all rose and began to converse with each other. As they did so, Link noticed a number of women enter the hall and come over to some of the nobles. These women were dressed just like the dancers, but were older, in their late teens to early twenties. They met the nobles and with a single touch on the chin, diverted the nobles from their discussions to their own attentions. Link knew exactly what they were planning. They were seducing the nobles. Link went over to an isolated area of the hall and simply stood, waiting. As he did so, one of the women came over to him and smiled seductively. She was dressed in what could only be described as a pink bathing suit. She had red hair and green eyes and looked to be only a year or two older than Link. "So, hero, what are you doing right now?"

"Nothing," Link answered. "I'm simply waiting for my next assignment."

"And what might that be?" the woman asked.

"My mission is classified," the hero answered. "I cannot discuss it with anyone."

"Oh," the woman answered. She then gazed at him seductively and asked, "Are you going to leave soon?"

"Tomorrow," Link replied, not wanting to give away too much information.

"Well, that gives us all night," the woman replied sensuously.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to rest tonight. My mission will be strenuous," Link told her in what he hoped would sound like a sympathetic voice. Still, the thought of someone trying to seduce him troubled him.

"But we could simply duck out of this party and…"

"I also don't want to disrespect Prince Daphnes," Link told her more sternly. "I'm afraid I must refuse your offer."

The woman sighed. "Very well," she lamented. She then looked at him and winked, "You don't know what you're missing. But I'll be in castle should you change your mind, hero."

Link merely shrugged as the woman went away to see if she could seduce some pleasures out of one of the other nobles. "Wow," came the voice of Prince Daphnes. Link turned and saw the prince coming over to him, a blond haired Hylian woman hanging on his shoulder. "I've never seen anyone refuse Cassie before. You're either asexual or blind."

"I'm not blind, sire," Link said.

"Of course not. Not if you took down Veran with the equipment you came to the castle with. But still, no one refuses Cassie. Until you, she had a perfect record."

"How would you know, sire?"

"She and I have an on again, off again relationship," the prince answered with a chuckle. "I can also tell that she's gonna fume over your refusal of her." The prince then looked back at Cassie, who was already in the process of seducing another noble. Turning back to Link, he said, "Normally, someone would not refuse someone like Cassie unless they were married or had already met a special person of their own, possibly their soul mate."

His statement caused Link to think back to Midna, which surprised him since while he could not deny Midna's beauty, he had not really felt as if he had romantic feelings for her. In addition, he felt that if he were going to have any romantic interests, it would have been Ilia from Ordon Village. Of course, that was before he had met Midna. Now, he was not so sure. The prince merely chuckled. "So you _do_ have someone."

"I don't know," Link responded quietly.

"Well, don't worry so much about it," Daphnes said with a smile. "I don't think she's here right now. No one would know about any…indiscretions that you may have."

"I would know, sire."

Daphnes ignored the comment. Before departing with his latest interest, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Link. "What is this?" Link asked.

"It's a certificate," Daphnes answered. "It allows you full access to the castle. I am granting you lodging in the guest tower of the castle. There is a room already furnished and waiting. Here is the map."

The prince then handed Link the map as well as the certification for the guest quarters. He took the papers and proceeded to make his way towards the hall's exit. As he did so, he ran across some of the nobles, as well as several servants. He ignored them as he exited the main hall. As he left the hall, a smirk crossed the face of the prince.

After he had left, Link proceeded to take out the map and open it up. He then studied the map and did his best to find his way to his quarters. The trip to his quarters took him longer than he would have wished, for he found the directions on the map to be of little use to him. As he walked around the castle, searching for his quarters, he saw numerous guards on patrol inside the castle. As he passed them by, they nodded to him when he presented his certification, allowing him to pass without incident. As he continued to search for his quarters, he noticed one of the dancers that had danced to the songs sung by the Violets rushing down the corridor. She looked to be no older than fourteen, if that. Aside from the cloak that the girl wore, which covered her head, torso, and part of her legs, it seemed as if she were wearing very little else. The girl nearly froze at the sight of Link. Link, however, merely stood aside, waiting for her to pass, which she did not. Despite the fact that he was unarmed and making no hostile gestures towards her, the girl was still frozen with fear. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," the hero told her in a gentle voice.

When she saw that he was not going for any weapon, she quickly ran down the corridor past him and turned when it came to a fork. Link could tell from the look on her face that she had been terrified. She had not in the castle willingly. Still, before turning, she looked back at him and said, "Thanks."

Link gave her a kind smile and continued on his way. As he did so, he noticed a large, heavyset man rushing down the corridor towards him. When the man saw Link, he stopped and said, "Hey, you."

Link stopped and looked at him. "Yes?"

"Hey, did you see a teenage girl of about fourteen just a moment ago? She just ran from my quarters and stole one of my daggers."

Link's blood began to boil at the sight of the man, for the man looked to be dressed in little more than a towel, which gave Link a distinct impression of what he had either done to the girl, or was planning to do to her, hopefully the latter. It was clear that now that the man must have kidnapped the girl. "No," Link lied. It was likely the first lie he had told in a very long time, possibly ever.

"Come on," the man complained. "She was running down this very corridor, there's no way you could've missed her. Are you blind?"

"Apparently so," the hero shrugged, thinking back to the comment from Prince Daphnes regarding Cassie.

"Well, for your information, I am Count Marcus of Lanayru Province. I am also a General in the Knights of Hyrule. I am an important noble. If you are protecting that girl, I will make your life a living hell."

"I'm not, sir," Link responded as sternly as he could muster.

"You better not be," the count grumbled as he went back into his quarters. As he walked by, Link could hear the sound of glass breaking and the cursing of the count. For a fleeting instant, he was tempted to go into the count's quarters and deal with him personally, but when he heard that no one else was with him, mostly because the count was complaining that he did not even get to enjoy the girl, he decided that it would be best to simply report the incident to Prince Daphnes tomorrow, for he had a bad feeling that Daphnes might have sided with the count and order Link to tell him where the girl was, and he wanted to be certain that the girl was long gone before anyone began to interrogate him on the off chance that he may succumb to the interrogation. As it was, he simply continued his search for his quarters.

His search lasted for another few minutes before he eventually managed to find his quarters. When he entered, he was treated to an opulent room that was even more opulent than the quarters he had been assigned on the _H.R.S. Hylia_. There was a large king-sized bed resting against the wall, surrounded by a large frame. There was plush carpeting beneath his feet and there were several tables, chairs, and even a couple of sofas. There was also a clock, which said that the time was ten o'clock at night. It looked like it was more suited for royalty than for a simple warrior like him. There was even a balcony that looked out over the island, and out over the Great Sea. Wasting no time, he changed out of his Hero's Clothes and into some pajamas. After that, he jumped onto the bed and proceeded to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, back in the main hall, the party was letting out, for the prince had declared that the party had come to an end. The dukes and other nobles soon filed out of the room, one by one, until only the prince remained. No guards or any other servants were present. Once the room was deserted, he went over to the bowl in the center of the main table, chanting in an unknown language. As soon as the chant was complete, a ball of energy formed over his right hand and he tossed it into the bowl. The bowl then glowed and a beam of light shot up to the ceiling. After a second, an image of King Nohansen appeared. "How was the party?" the king asked.

"It was fine," Daphnes answered with a grin.

The king then gave a satisfied smile. "So, what about Link?" the king asked his son. "Is he on our side?"

"That remains to be seen. But I have a good feeling that he will be," Daphnes answered. "After all, he has no one here, and there is nowhere else for him to go. He'll be on our side, just as the Link of our time was. Besides, I think we'll get him when he sees his room."

"And he acted as you expected?"

"There were a few hiccups," the prince admitted. "Namely, Link was not seduced by Cassie and one of the nobles reported that he had a problem with the age of the dancers. Other than that, though, I don't see a problem with him. He is out of his time. There was, to me, an indication that he may have had someone of importance back in his own time, though. I'll have to check on that further, though."

"I see," the king said. "And what about the Dark Woman? Could he be connected to her? She initially believed that she recognized our Link before he…"

"What about her?" the prince retorted, not knowing where his father's thought about the Dark Woman came from. "She's trapped in the seal, along with my sister and her Link. We won't have to worry about the Dark Woman anymore."

"Be certain," King Nohansen told the prince.

"I will be," the prince assured his father. Soon, a look of concern crossed the prince's face. "What made you think about the Dark Woman?"

"I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of her, and that she may have connections with Link. After all, she appeared much the same way he did."

"That doesn't mean that she is connected to him, though."

"I'm not willing to take that chance," King Nohansen blurted. "Daphnes, we cannot afford to make any mistakes here. Link's arrival was not foreseen. I do not know if he will do what is necessary for Hyrule to prosper. You have to find out if he is for us or against us."

"Don't worry. We'll find out soon enough," Daphnes answered.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Link awoke with the sun the next day. As soon as the Cucco crowed, he arose and yawned. Looking out the window, he saw the sun creeping over the horizon. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was six o'clock. Even though he still had some time before he had to be over at the harbor so he could go with the fleet to Ordona Province, he decided that it would still be a good idea to get an early start. He quickly got out of his bed and changed out of his pajamas and into his Hero's Clothes.

He exited his room and proceeded to retrace his steps back down to the main hall. As he went, he soon saw an area that was labeled as the kitchen. He stopped in the kitchen hall to have some breakfast consisting of some honey bread and milk. It only took him a few minutes to eat and once he was finished, he exited the kitchen, giving the cook and staff a purple Rupee as thanks.

Link then made his way over to the entrance to the castle. Before he reached its exit, though, he saw the guard that he had given his weapons to. The guard appeared to be asleep. Link went up to him and checked to see if the soldier was really sleeping, or if it was a trick. His question was soon answered as the soldier shot up and looked at the hero. When the soldier saw that it was Link, he was taken aback and said, "Well, if it isn't the visiting hero. I guess you've come for your equipment."

Link nodded.

"Don't you think it's a little early to go out? It's only what, six twenty?"

Link simply shrugged, indicating that he did not want to risk being late for his mission so he wanted to get an early start. The soldier nodded and then went to the rack and took down Link's sword. He handed the sword back to him and commented, "The blade feels perfectly balanced. That is a mighty fine sword. I didn't know Ordonians could make such fine weapons. This is just as good, if not better, than the best non-magical Hylian Swords. And the Hylian Shield you have is of remarkable quality. How did you get such items?"

Link had already heard the soldier lavish his praises on the sword and shield and he began to grow a little concerned, as if the soldier wanted to keep them. Still, the soldier had handed them to him without protest, or using his position to tell Link that having an Ordon Sword was illegal and that the blade would have to be confiscated. He decided to answer the soldier, saying, "The Ordon Sword was given to me by one of my friends in the village, and I bought the Hylian Shield from a shop in Kakariko Village."

"Kakariko Village?" the soldier asked, questioningly.

"It was in Eldin Province," Link answered. "I don't know if it is flooded or not."

"It probably is since I haven't heard of it in quite a while. Then again, I've been stationed at the castle all my life, so I don't know the names of all the small villages in the kingdom. Still, if it was not situated on top of a high mountain, then chances are that it's underwater."

Link nodded, suspecting that that was the case. In any event, he did not stop to dwell on the fate of Kakariko. He simply took his weapons and his sack and slung them over his shoulder.

Link made his way out of Hyrule Castle, stepping into the castle's courtyard. When he walked down the steps, he looked around and was surprised to see that there appeared to be no guards protecting the castle. As he continued to walk, though, the hairs on his neck began to stand on end, as if he were being watched. When he was far enough to see if there were guards on the walls, he looked back and saw the soldiers stationed on the wall. They were looking down at him as he continued to walk through the courtyard. As he continued to walk, he periodically looked back to see if the guards and soldiers stationed on the walls were tracking him and if they were planning something. So far, they had not taken any actions against him, but he did not want to remain inside the castle's grounds for any longer than needed. Once he departed the castle, he hoped that he would not have to come back to the castle for a long time.

As soon as he departed the castle, he proceeded to make his way into town. Checking on his inventory, he found that he was in need of more arrows, for he had expended a number of them in his battle against the Magic Lords and later against Veran. He then made his way over to the town square. He did not expect to find anything open at this early hour, but he still thought that it would be a good idea to see if anything was open. And if it was not, he may have been able to find out when the shops opened so he could get refills for some of his weapons.

As he entered the town square, he was surprised to find that the shops and stalls all appeared to be open, for the vendors were already working at them and initially seemed to want to call him over to them to sell some items to him until they saw that it was _him_, and then, they were suddenly silent and apprehensive. He cast a questioning glance over at one of the vendors, wondering why they were so scared of him, but his glance only caused the vendor to duck back behind his counter. He shrugged and then began his search for the nearest item shop. As he was searching, he noticed that several people, likely shoppers, were staring at him as he made his way around the square. Some were scowling at him while others looked apprehensive. All of them were quick to note his sword and shield and made certain to not get in his way, some of them going behind a variety of stands and others simply going to another part of town, many of them leaving the stands and vendors, costing the vendors sales. Some of the vendors scowled at the hero's presence while others were a little more worried about his coming. For the life of him, Link could not figure out why everyone was so afraid of him. The soldiers had treated him well enough and save for the incident out at sea, they had not overtly done anything to cause him to be on edge. Still, they had done some little things that caused him to be wary. The way they had spoken, both to him and to each other, as well as the argument that the prince and the dukes had with each other, as well as the attack on Ordona Province, gave him reason to pause. The nobles, however, were a different story. They really sent chills down his spine, particularly the noble that had taken that dancer as a slave last night. He then uttered a silent prayer that the girl had escaped the castle safe and unharmed. The nobles' behavior was just another thing that sent up alarm bells in his mind. And if the soldiers served them loyally, then he would have reason to be suspicious of them as well.

Eventually, Link found an item shop and proceeded to enter it. As soon as he entered, he looked around and saw a plain counter in the back, along with a few people looking at merchandise. There were shelves of merchandise behind the counter, mostly containing small items that would not be of much use to him. As he had entered, though, a few people had turned to see who was at the door and when they saw him, they froze, their eyes wide with absolute terror. Their sudden stop caused others to turn and see what had them so terrified, only for them to lay eyes on Link and freeze in terror, themselves.

Link's eyes went wide at the reaction his presence had on the shoppers. Looking behind the counter, he noticed that the proprietor, a large, burly man with black hair, was tense as he had one of his hands placed on the counter, with the other one behind it, possibly going for a weapon of some sort. He could not really fathom why they were so terrified of him. Looking as natural as he could, in order to calm the shoppers and the proprietor, he walked over to the counter, making no moves that could be deemed hostile. As he walked by the terrified patrons, they stepped away in slow, jerky movements, as if they were forcing their bodies to move against their will. He heard one woman, a young woman with brown hair and blue eyes, whimper, "P-P-Please, don't hurt us. We're not with the Sages."

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you," he assured the woman, but his assurances fell on deaf ears, for she still trembled with absolute terror.

He continued to make his way over to the counter, gazing questioningly at the various patrons of the shop. When he got to the counter, he stopped and looked at the wall of merchandise. He saw a type of stick called a Deku Stick, a bug, and a candle with a blue flame labeled Blue Fire for sale, but did not find any arrows, or any other item that could possibly be a weapon, either. When the proprietor saw that Link was looking for something but was not finding it, he struggled to work up the courage to speak to the hero. Eventually, he asked, "Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

"Do you have any arrows?" Link asked.

"We don't sell weapons here, Link," the proprietor answered, his voice not wavering. "You are welcome to search the premises but you will find nothing illicit here. No swords, shields, guns, bombs, or anything else that could be a weapon."

Link frowned. Apparently, it seemed as if selling weapons was illegal in Hyrule. "Do you know where I can get some arrows, then?" Link asked.

"Probably at the castle," the proprietor answered. "But you should already know that. You were the enforcer of the edicts of the king and royalty."

Link cast a questioning glance at the proprietor at the statement. "What do you mean?"

"You are the Hero of Hyrule," the proprietor answered. "You are the lover of Princess Zelda and were adopted into the Royal Family. You are now a noble."

"When you said that you didn't have arrows, you spoke as if you did not have any because it was illegal to carry them," Link said, getting the subject back to him getting equipment for his journey. "I am going on a mission and I am in need of arrows. I will be able to pay you."

"No way," the proprietor said, shaking his head. "I don't have any arrows. You can report this to the prince if you want, or even Zelda, assuming she escaped with you, but I am not a lawbreaker. I have no weapons. No one does."

"Then how do people defend themselves against criminals?" Link asked.

"The soldiers protect them…when they notice a crime, that is," the proprietor added quietly but Link was able to make out what was being said. "Other than that, soldiers just report the crime and capture the perpetrators."

Link did not like where this was going. This Hyrule was nothing like the one he had left. The proprietor then told Link, "If it's arrows you want, the best place to go is the castle. If not there, then I don't know anywhere else for you to look. No one in their right mind hides any weapons in their homes on Hyrule Castle Island, even those worried about criminals. They don't want to become criminals, and weapons charges often result in death sentences."

Link repressed the urge to slump over. "Well, thank you, anyway," the told the proprietor.

"I wish I could have been of more help," the proprietor said in return.

"You were," Link said under his breath. "More than you could ever know."

He then turned around and departed the store, turning the knob on the door and pushing it outward as he exited. As he left, the shop's patrons unfroze and continued to look around at the merchandise, thankful that Link had not hurt them. Still, a couple of them looked at Link as he departed and wondered to themselves if this was the same Link that they had grown up dreading after the flooding of Hyrule.

Meanwhile, Link made his way around the town, exploring it to pass the time until he was due to arrive at the harbor to go on his mission. As he did so, he noticed that there were an unusually large number of soldiers patrolling the streets. When he approached one of the soldiers to ask what was going on, the soldier merely grunted and said, "We're getting a shipment of cargo before the ships depart. The nobles need to have their luxuries and all. We'll just have to get the leftovers from here." The soldier then gave a snort as he continued with his patrol.

Link then ran after the soldier and asked, "Why would you need all of these soldiers for a cargo delivery?"

"The cargo may try to escape," the soldier bellowed in response. "You just leave us alone. We don't need your help securing the area." The soldier then rushed off to join the rest of the patrol.

Link continued to stare at the soldier as he departed. There was definitely something off about the soldier. He then simply turned and continued to make his way down the street, trying to think about his mission, rather than the personality of the nobles and the soldiers. Still, he could not put aside his thoughts on their behavior. Not only that, but the people in the item shop had viewed him with absolute terror when he had appeared, almost as if they had been in mortal peril.

He was about to shake off his concerns when he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from a house not too far away. He focused in on the sound and followed it down the street. He then heard a loud crash not too far away, indicating that he was very close to its source. When he came to an intersection, he turned to the right and saw four soldiers standing outside of a house. Two Knights of Hyrule soon came out of the house, dragging a girl out of the house. The child was screaming and crying to be released. She was no older than ten "Quiet!" the Knights roared, striking the girl on her back. "You're ours, now."

"Wait!" Link heard a female voice cry from within the house. Almost immediately, a man and a woman came out of the house, almost certainly the parents of the child. The soldiers merely grinned. "Looks like it's a two-for-one deal today, men." Two of the soldiers then rushed to grab the woman and take her with them. The man attempted to fight back but was quickly repulsed by the soldiers, pushed to the ground. The one soldier then turned his halberd upside down and thrust it into the man, stabbing him in the lower left section of the torso, causing his wife and daughter to cry, "No!" The man spasmed upwards for a bit before falling back to the ground. "Die slowly," the soldier said sadistically, leaving the father to lie on the ground and bleed to death.

Link's eyes went wide with shock as the soldiers laughed at the suffering of the man, and the cries and sobs of the daughter and mother. "Look at it this way. You two'll be providing pleasure for the nobles, now. But for now, I think we'll have some fun with you."

Link scowled as he saw the soldiers and Knights laughing. He quickly looked over at the man, who was miraculously still alive, and he walked towards the soldiers, making his presence known. The soldiers turned to face him and chuckled as he appeared. "Well well, it looks like the Hero of Hyrule has come to join us in some fun."

"Let them go and heal that man," Link commanded.

"Why?" the soldiers mocked. "They deserve this. We're just taking them into custody."

"What crime did they commit?" Link asked sharply.

"The wife and daughter refused to serve the king and prince as ordered by their highnesses," the soldiers answered. "We were told to bring the woman and girl to them alive."

"That's not good enough, release them now!" Link demanded, grabbing his sword and drawing it. He also drew his Mirror Shield, expecting the soldiers to use their magical halberds against him, rather than their bladed weapons.

"They also had weapons," one of the Knights answered. "This is a lawful arrest."

"It doesn't look like it," Link retorted as he went over to the man, who was still alive. He took out one of his Red Potions and uncorked the bottle. He stooped down and went to administer the potion to the man. He placed the bottle to the lips of the man and poured the liquid into the man's mouth. As he was doing so, though, he looked back and saw one of the soldiers aiming the magical end of the halberd at him.

"Stop what you're doing now!" the soldier commanded. "That man is sentenced to death for refusing to surrender his wife and daughter to us. He is a criminal."

"The only criminals here are you," Link snarled as he turned around, not stopping to see the man's wound close and strength return to his body. "Release your captives now."

"Never," the soldier answered, firing a single green blast of magic at Link. Link had already raised his Mirror Shield over his chest though, and the blast of magic struck the shield only to be reflected back at its source. The blast of magic struck the soldier squarely in the chest blasting through the armor and producing a neat hole in the soldier. The soldier immediately fell forward, his wound being fatal. He then held out his blade at the rest of the soldiers.

The rest of the soldiers then drew their swords and proceeded to charge towards Link while the Knights of Hyrule targeted him with their magical halberds. Link told the man, "Stay here. I'll save your family."

The man nodded and then yelled, "Watch out!" as two soldiers converged on Link. Link quickly ducked their initial strikes and thrust his sword forward, managing to catch one of the soldiers in the face. The sword bit into the soldier's face and instantly killed him. Link then performed a spin attack and attempted to cut down the other soldier while the two Knights fired on him. Link managed to catch the magical blasts of energy on his Mirror Shield and reflect them back at the two Knights, felling them. The other soldier, however, was barely fazed by the sword strike, the sword unable to bite through the armor worn by the soldier. The soldier then thrust his blade towards Link, only for Link to parry the blade and manage to get it caught on a wooden bench. Link then thrust his sword into the face of the soldier, felling him just as the other soldier had been felled. Link then looked around, knowing that there had been another soldier and quickly found him, along with another soldier that had likely come to investigate the sounds of the fighting, using the woman and her daughter as human shields. "Put the sword down, Link, or we kill these two," they warned, holding knives to the throats of the two Hylians.

Link, seeing little choice, dropped his sword to the ground, where it clattered as it hit. Link then quickly pulled out a Deku Nut and tossed it at the soldiers. The soldiers were caught off guard and when the nut detonated, the flash blinded the soldiers for a second. During this precious second, Link took out his bow and notched an arrow to it. He pulled back on the string and fired, shooting the soldier that had captured the daughter right between the eyes. The woman, meanwhile, took advantage of the situation to wiggle free while the soldier fumbled about blindly. Once she was free, Link sent an arrow the soldier's way, killing him, too.

With the soldiers dead, Link told the family, "Get back inside. I'll make sure that no one else comes for you."

The family did as he bade and the hero then went to work dragged the bodies of the soldiers away from the house and into an alley not too far away, hoping that it would look like the soldiers were the victims of a mugging. Link considered taking their weapons to give to the family so they could defend themselves but he decided against it since if they were caught with the weapons of the soldiers, it would look like they had been the ones to have killed the soldiers. Still, he took the weapons of the soldiers and proceeded to make his way down another alley. He quickly spotted a dumpster and decided that this would be the best place to dispose of the weapons, hoping that they would not be linked to the fallen soldiers. Still, Link kept one of the halberds, attempting to fire it at one of the dumpsters to make it look like someone was trying to use it. When he pushed what he thought was the firing stud, nothing happened. He grimaced. It must have been linked to the user somehow. He did not question how it worked, though. He knew everything he needed to about the weapon. It was designed to only work with the Knights or the soldiers who wielded it. He then tossed it in the one of the dumpsters that lined the street. Once that was finished, he went to retrace his steps back to the town square.

As soon as he emerged from the alley, he entered the square and noticed that the square was practically deserted. He looked in the windows of several of the houses and businesses and noticed several people peering out the window. They quickly ducked back out of sight, though, when Link made eye contact with them. Suddenly, a bad feeling came over Link and he drew his sword and turned towards the path that would take him to the harbor. As soon as he did so, though, he saw a carriage coming in being escorted by a group of Knights riding horses. However, there were two other Knights that did not seem to be riding horses, but riding on some type of vehicle. It looked like it was a mechanical horse of some sort but it lacked a horse's legs, head, and mane, the mane being replaced by two handles and the legs having nothing more than a sled. There were two outcroppings for the riders to rest their feet on, but it was clear that that was for nothing more than comfort. Jutting out from the front seemed to be two small rods that had crystals on the end that looked to be the same types of crystals that the halberds of the Hyrulean Knights had. Link also heard no sound emanating from the what he could only describe as a floating sled of some sort, for nothing else seemed to describe it. It was unlike anything else he had ever seen, and it was a device that did not seem to fit. Link could not help but notice that the riders on the two vehicles looked to be nobles of high status, for he could not see any reason why something like this would be given to simple soldiers. He then heard a call from the soldiers, "Make way for the nobility! We come bearing gifts for the prince!"

Link sheathed his blade and went up a flight of steps on the side of one of the buildings so he could get a better view of the procession. As he did so, he noticed that the carriage seemed to be pulling something. Looking behind the carriage, he saw a cage that appeared to have a number of children inside. He counted ten: four boys and six girls. They looked to be no older than ten, with many of them being noticeably younger. Upon studying them for a few seconds, he noted that they also looked to be Ordonian, for they lacked the long, pointed ears of Hylians. They also wore clothes that resembled those worn by the people of Ordon Village of his time. Each child looked terrified, gazing around at the town hopelessly as if they were resigning themselves to a terrible fate. Link then noticed one of the soldiers look down at the children and say something, causing them to recoil and move to the other side of the cage. He then heard one of the soldiers cry, "C'mon, pick up the pace. We've gotta get these kids to the palace so they can be broken for the prince's court. They need more servants and slaves for the castle."

That was all Link needed to hear. If everything else that he had seen in this new Hyrule since he had arrived was not enough to convince him that there was a great deal of corruption, this sealed the deal, and that was assuming that the current Hyrulean royalty was not evil, something that he had virtually no hope of. There was no way that the prince and/or the king did not know what was going on, or was a part of it. He quickly took out his bow and took out an explosive arrow. Lighting it, he pulled back on the string and targeted one of the nobles on the floating sleds. He let fly with his arrow and it struck the front of the lead sled, exploding and destroying the sled. The explosion knocked the rider off the sled, shrapnel tearing into the armor and exposed flesh of the noble. The dead or wounded noble landed on the ground in a heap and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop.

The other soldiers and the remaining noble on the floating sled immediately targeted the position where they thought Link had fired from. Sapphire blasts of magic lashed out at the hero's position from the soldiers and the floating sled, forcing him to flee his position. The magic blasts tore holes into the side of the building and collapsed the walkway on the side of the building. Link jumped off the building and landed on a small roof about six or seven feet above the ground. From there, he jumped down and found another hiding spot beneath a bench. He prepared another explosive arrow and targeted the second sled. He fired the arrow, which scored a direct hit on the noble riding the sled and it exploded, blowing apart the noble and damaging the sled enough so that its magic, or whatever was keeping it aloft, was no longer sufficient to keep it in the air. The sled crashed into the ground where it skidded to a halt after a few meters.

The other soldiers and Knights were getting nervous now and began firing wildly in every direction. Magic bolts tore into the windows and sides of buildings and stalls. Even a few soldiers fell to inadvertent friendly fire. Still, despite their wild fire, they were unable to score a hit on the Hylian hero.

Knowing that the two nobles riding the sleds were taken care of, Link knew that he could use his more common weapons to deal with the rest of the Knights and soldiers. Drawing some normal arrows, he targeted one of front soldiers. His bow twanged and an arrow leapt from his bow. The arrow scored a direct hit on the soldier in the face, in one of the few places where the soldier's skin was exposed. The soldier immediately collapsed to the ground, causing several other soldiers to turn to face Link. When they saw him, he immediately dropped his bow and raised his Mirror Shield. The soldiers then yelled to their comrades, "Hey, he's over here!"

The soldiers then opened fire on Link, unleashing a deadly hail of blue bolts of magic upon the hero. Link crouched down and used the Mirror Shield to intercept their magical bolts, though, the blasts splashing against his shield and immediately being reflected back at the firing soldiers. The magical bolts tore into the soldiers, felling them with little more than single hits. After the initial volley, Link picked up his bow again and took out an explosive arrow. He lit it and then fired it at another soldier, this one being armored from head to toe, leaving no space open for his normal arrows to penetrate his armor. The arrow struck the lead soldier and exploded, felling him. Link then pulled out a second explosive arrow and felled another soldier. It was not long before the soldiers realized that their numbers were quickly being thinned out by the Hylian hero.

The surviving soldiers then decided that the best chance they had against Link would be to engage him at close range, suspecting that their weapons would be effective against him while their armor would protect them from his sword strikes. They put this to the test by charging towards him. Link still had a few surprises for them, though. He took out a Bombling and placed it on the ground. The soldiers, seeing the insect-like bomb skittering towards them, hesitated for a second, allowing Link to drop another one. The soldiers, eventually realizing that their only chance against Link would be to turn this into a close combat affair, they charged after him again, knowing that their front ranks would take the explosions. Indeed, the two lead soldiers were killed by the first Bombling's detonation. Two more were knocked down by the blast. The first Bombling's blast triggered the second one a few moments later. This explosion killed three Knights, felling two more, leaving only three Knights still standing for Link to deal with.

The remaining Knights quickly charged Link, closing their helmets so as to not leave any skin exposed. Link then did something that they had not expected. He put away his bow but did not draw out his sword. Instead, he drew out his Megaton Hammer. Had their faces been revealed, Link would have seen the soldiers' eyes go wide with shock as he came at the lead soldier and took a mighty swing. The hammer hit the soldier in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Link then took a second swing and knocked another soldier off his feet. He then charged the final soldier, who was ready for Link, raising his shield. The hammer struck his shield and it did not budge, emitting a loud clang as metal struck metal. The soldier grinned as he held his ground. "You'll have to do better than that, boy," the soldier sneered.

Link, however, was undaunted. He simply backed away and took out a bomb. Lighting it, he tossed it to the remaining soldier, causing him to flinch. The bomb struck the soldier in the chest and exploded, blowing apart the soldier. After the smoke cleared, all of the soldiers that had been escorting the children were dead. However, before he could check on the children and free them, he heard a voice call to him, "Drop your weapons or the children die!"

Link turned around to see a man dressed in regal clothing. He suspected that the man was a noble of some sort. He and over a dozen soldiers stood near the cage of terrified children, each of the soldiers having trained their halberds on the children. "I say again, drop your weapons and surrender or the children die."

Link still held firm. "What guarantee do I have that once I surrender, you won't just kill the children anyway?" Link called back to the soldiers.

"If you don't, we'll start killing them anyway," the noble retorted.

"And then I'll kill you," Link answered. He then paused for a moment before continuing. "Release the children and allow them to return to wherever they came from unmolested in any way, and I will surrender to you without any resistance."

"How about no?" the noble retorted as he aimed his halberd at one of the children, a Human girl. "Buh bye, bitch," the soldier sneered just before he was caught in the back with an explosive arrow. The arrow instantly blew through his armor and took him down. The other soldiers then tried to make good on their threat but Link simply notched another explosive arrow to his bow and fired, taking down another soldier, then another, then another. This continued until he had the attention of the rest of the soldiers. "The hero! Go for the hero! We can kill the kids later!" the leader of the soldiers, a Knight of Hyrule, cried.

Link grinned as the soldiers immediately raised their halberds and began firing magic bolts at him. Raising his Mirror Shield, the bolts splashed against the shield before being reflected back at their firers. Several soldiers fell to their own reflected fire, while other blasts were fired at enough of an angle that they were not reflected back at their firers, but elsewhere, sometimes into different firers. Seeing that their fire was not having an effect on Link, the Knight of Hyrule cried, "Use arrows and bombs! His shield will reflect anything else!"

Grimacing at how quickly this Knight and his soldiers had caught on to his abilities, Link decided to switch tactics. Putting his bow and arrow away, he took out a Bombling and deployed it, sending it towards the soldiers. The soldiers, seeing the bomb, scattered and allowed Link an avenue where he could reach the children so he could free them. Much to the surprise of the soldiers, though, the Bombling turned with the lead Knight of Hyrule and proceeded to follow him, the fuse still lit. In order to keep the other soldiers away from the cage, Link sent out some more Bomblings, six in total, sending them towards the fleeing soldiers. As the Knight fled, Link could hear him frantically cry to the bomb, "Stop following me!"

The bomb did not obey, though, and the heavy armor the Knight wore only served to be a liability as the bomb exploded too close to the Knight. The explosion sent the Knight hurtling through the air and while most of the shrapnel was deflected, the concussion of the bomb, as well as the pieces that struck the weak points in the Knight's armor, were enough to either kill or severely injure the Knight. The other soldiers fared little better as a series of explosions and cries indicated that they were also casualties of the fighting.

Link took advantage of this lull in the fighting to rush over to the cage. Drawing his sword, he slashed the lock and pulled open the cage. He then stood aside to let the children escape. However, despite his fighting the soldiers, the children were still terrified of him. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Link told them in a reassuring tone. "I'm here to save you."

"You can't," one of the children, a girl of about eight years old, said, on the verge of tears.

"We were brought here by ship from one of the islands in Faron Province," another child, a boy of ten, explained. "The harbor is crawling with soldiers and all of the ships have marines on them. There's no way off the island for us."

"Then I'll find a way," Link stated confidently, hoping that his show of confidence would be enough to get them to get out of the cage so they could make their escape.

Eventually, the children exited the cage and formed up with Link, forming a line as they left. Once they were out, Link sheathed his blade and drew out his bow once more. He then led the children through the streets, keeping watch for any more soldiers as they went. He knew that there had to be some form of transportation off of the island besides the harbor. While many citizens of the town seemed to be terrified of the guards, they still seemed to have enough money to buy supplies. Some may have even been able to buy boats. Link checked his wallet and found that he still had a large number of Rupees left, so he could likely buy a small boat if he found one.

As they were searching for an alternative way of leaving the Castle Island, they ran across a patrol of two soldiers. When the group saw the soldiers, they quickly ducked back behind a corner as the soldiers caught sight of them. Fortunately, these soldiers did not have full suits of plate armor. Their faces were still exposed. Drawing an arrow out of his quiver, Link notched it to his bow and shot one of the soldiers in the face as the soldier had drawn a sword and charged towards him. Before he could draw another arrow, though, the second soldier arrived. Drawing his Megaton Hammer, he swung at the soldier, knocking him down with his first swing. He made sure the soldier stayed down as he smashed the soldier's head with the second swing.

Once the path was clear, Link ushered the children down the alley and scanned the houses that lined the streets. He peered into the windows of each house to see if they appeared to be occupied. Seeing one that looked abandoned, he motioned for the others to come. He went to the house's door decided to test it by seeing if the door was locked. It was not and he opened it, ushered the children into the house. After everyone was inside, Link closed the door. Surprisingly, there was a key underneath the mat that he was standing on. He picked up the key and locked the door just to make sure that no one was going to find them for a while, and that if they were, indeed, found, that he would be warned.

Once inside, he quickly went to the windows and saw that there were curtains over them. He pulled the curtains closed on each window and then looked around the rest of the house from what he could see. The house looked to be two stories, for there was a set of stairs leading up to a second floor, and the wooden ceiling was far too low for it to be a one story building, if the outside appearance of the building was any indication. It must have been abandoned for quite some time, for it was in an extreme state of disrepair, with the back wall apparently missing in some sections of the house. At first, it seemed as if this may have blessing for Link and the children, though, as out the back wall, he saw what looked to be a small dock. Going to the hole, he looked out at the dock, but found no boat at the dock. There was not even a canoe.

"What will we do now?" one of the children, a boy about eight years old asked Link.

"What if the soldiers find us?" a girl of the same age as the boy asked.

Link considered his possibilities. He had hoped to find a boat at the dock but failing that, he looked around to see if there was any shelter for the children. Suddenly, he heard a rapping at the door. "Come on, open up. This is the elite guard of the Prince of Hyrule," Link heard a deep, gruff voice call. "We're looking for a dangerous fugitive."

The children and Link were dead silent as the soldier issued his orders. He quickly went to one of the windows and peered outside. The alley was crawling with soldiers with Link counting at least a dozen soldiers and four Knights, and that was only from his first glimpse. He then looked around the house to see if there was anywhere that the children could hide. He quickly found what looked to be a trapdoor near the back wall. There was also a bookcase close to the door. A plan quickly formed in Link's mind. Going back to the trapdoor, he opened it and looked down into it. It looked to lead to a cellar, for there was a ladder that led to the lower floor. It was dark, but there seemed to be enough space for the children to stay for a time. He then looked back at the children. "Come here," he directed them in a hushed tone, motioning for them to come as he quickly saw shapes darken the curtains, indicating that the soldiers were just outside the windows and trying to look in. He hoped that any small cracks in the curtains would not give them away.

The children quickly obeyed and went over to the hero. "This leads to a cellar that should be able to hold all of you. Get down there now," he directed in a hushed, yet forceful tone.

"But…" one of the children began.

"No buts," Link interrupted. "I counted at least a dozen soldiers and four Knights when I looked out through the curtains. More soldiers are arriving as we speak." The sound of footfalls echoing outside the building confirmed Link's last statement, and the greatest fears of the children. "Get down into the basement now. I'm going to pull the bookcase over there close to the trapdoor and also place a rug over the door. It's me they want. I'll go over to the hole and jump into the water as soon as they enter the house. With any luck, they'll leave and try to find out where I'm going to surface. Still, you don't leave, you don't open the door until you start to run out of air down there, if you begin to run out of air. Even then, don't come out until you're certain that the soldiers are gone."

Each of the children nodded as Link ushered them into the basement. As he did so, he heard more knocking at the door. "Come on, kid, open the door now! We know you're in there!" the voice of a soldier cried.

A vicious knocking was then heard at the door. The door seemed to shudder with the impact. He did not know if they were using a battering ram, but he did not want to take any chances.

"Hurry," Link whispered as he ushered the last of the children down into the basement. He then placed the rug over the trapdoor and went over to the bookcase.

"Come on, kid, open up this door now or we'll break it down!" he heard a soldier cry.

Soon, the knocking at the door became much heavier. He knew that they were beginning to use a battering ram. Still, the noise from the ramming was beneficial to Link, for it drowned out the noise of him moving the bookcase over towards the trapdoor. He moved it over just behind the trapdoor and stationed it so that the rug that was covering the door was squarely in the center of the two ends of the bookcase. Once that was done, Link focused back on the door.

He heard another hard rap at the door. This time, splinters and dust fell from the door's hinges and he knew that it was about to break. As he saw this, he considered his options. He could try to fight, a battle that he may or may not win, but could risk the lives of the children if the fighting got out of hand, or he could flee and hope to draw them away from the children. It was him that they wanted. He glanced over at the stairwell that led to the second floor for the house, and likely an attic as well, but using that for his escape that would be a risky gamble to take as well since the soldiers would want to stay inside the house in order to make sure that he did not return to it. He then settled back on his original plan and took out the Zora Armor from his sack and put it on. The armor resembled his Hero's Tunic but was blue, short-sleeved, and the torso was covered in scales. The hood was also slightly longer with a fishtail at the end of it. Link also wore flipper-like boots and an intricately engraved metal headpiece that the hood extended from. Once he was finished, he looked back at the scene to make sure that it looked natural and that it would not draw any attention from the soldiers.

He took out his bow and readied an arrow. After another strong rap at the door, the door burst through, being reduced to splinters. At that very moment, Link let fly with his first arrow. His arrow streaked through the air and struck one of the soldiers in the chest. Apparently, that soldier's armor was of an inferior quality to the armor worn by other soldiers and Knights, for the arrow easily pierced the armor and felled the soldier, the soldier falling forward, uttering a cry before he died. The hero then drew another arrow and fired it at the next soldier to come in, felling him, too. This soldier fell on top of the first one and the doorway was quickly being blocked. Link took out one more arrow and fired at a third soldier. Again, this soldier must have had inferior armor to most of the other soldiers that Link had previously faced, for his arrow pierced the soldier's armor and he fell, on top of the first two soldiers. The doorway was now blocked. He knew that it was time for him to go. He quickly retreated to the hole in the wall and dove into the water.

At that very moment, the Knights of Hyrule pushed the mound of bodies out of the way, giving the rest of the soldiers access to Link and the interior of the house. They were too slow to see Link dive into the water, though they did manage to hear the splash. As soon as Link entered the water, a navy blue strip of cloth covered his mouth and nose, likely designed to filter oxygen out of the water, allowing him to breathe underwater. Wasting no time, he submerged himself. A few seconds later, several soldiers, along with a Knight of Hyrule, appeared near the hole. Looking down, they could still see the ring of ripples in the water that Link had generated when he dove into the water. The soldiers then readied their rifles and started firing into water. The Knight, however, raised his hand and cried, "Cease fire! He's dived too far for the bullets to reach."

"So what do we do now?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Come with me," the Knight directed.

The Knight retreated from the hole and exited the house, being followed by his subordinate soldiers. As he did so, he told the others, "Leave a dozen men at this house in case Link resurfaces. The rest of us will go to the harbor."

"Why the harbor?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Because that is where Link will surface. It is the only place that has ships that will allow Link to escape. We'll ambush him there."

The soldiers smiled as they followed the Knight out of the alley. The dozen that had been ordered to remain behind, however, promptly reentered the house. They had a feeling that there was a reason that Link had left the house the way he did. They also had a feeling that that was why the Knight had ordered them to remain behind.

In the meantime, Link swam in the ocean around the island for the better part of an hour, searching for anyplace where he could surface and plan his next move. Despite seeing several docks, some with boats, even, there was no place for him to get onto land, which he found odd since if whoever had those boats fell into the water, it would be his or her doom.

Eventually, Link came to the conclusion that he would have to go to the harbor in order to surface and get back to land. As he made his way towards the harbor, though, he caught sight of a number of small boats that looked just like the boats that had taken him to the _H.R.S. Hylia_. He quickly dove underneath the water, hoping that he would be invisible to the boats. Fortunately, they did not look too deeply for him and after diving to about twenty feet deep, he was able to evade them and not really have to worry about being seen by the boats.

Eventually, he made it to the harbor and he surfaced to see if there were any military boats present. He poked just enough of his head out to see if there were any military ships stationed in the harbor. So far, there did not seem to be many ships there. However, that did him little good as he heard the familiar voice of the Knight of Hyrule that had been searching for him back at the run down house, say, "Surprise, bitch."

Link looked up and saw the Knight standing near the steps that would lead to the harbor's dock. Standing with the Knight were at least three dozen soldiers and eight additional Knights of Hyrule. Link began to weigh his options. He could try to dive back underneath the water and hope to swim to some island off in the distance, but given that he did not know where he was in Hyrule, that would be foolish. He could also try to fight the soldiers. If he dove, came up in his Magic Armor and dragged the Knight into the water, he might be able to defeat the soldiers. The Knight then slammed down his halberd and a group of soldiers came onto the scene, dragging the children that he had rescued earlier. "A smart plan, covering a trap door with a rug and a bookcase and using yourself as the decoy. However, you should not have expected children to remain silent or not check to see if the coast was clear, which it wasn't." Link looked over at the children, who looked to be bruised and battered. They were barely holding back tears. "Since you value the lives of children and innocents, I have a proposition for you," the soldier said evilly. "You surrender yourself to us now, and we'll spare these children. If you don't, we'll kill them and take you away anyway. Now, you may or may not be able to defeat us, but there's no way you'll be able to save all of the children _and_ beat us. What will it be? You, or the children? Choose wisely."

Link scowled as he focused on the children being gripped tightly by the soldiers. Their faceplates were retracted and he could see lecherous grins on the faces of the soldiers. Countless scenarios played through his mind, but none of them had all of the children surviving if he fought the soldiers, despite the fact that he was almost certain that he could defeat them, or at the very least, escape. Looking back at the Knight, he responded, "What guarantee do I have that you won't just kill the children once I surrender?"

"You don't," the soldier replied snarkily. "But you know damn well that if you _do_ fight, at least some of them will die in the ensuing battle, a battle where the outcome is not guaranteed. Which one will it be?"

"None of them," Link answered, drawing his sword. He then turned it so that the blade was pointing downward. "Guarantee that the children will go free alive and unmolested in any way, allowing them to return to their homes, businesses, or places of residence, without any trouble, even if it means leaving Hyrule Castle Island, and I will surrender to you without any further resistance."

The Knight scowled, seething beneath his mask, knowing that if he did not release the children, that Link might decide that it would be better to at least save some of them by fighting the soldiers, rather than let them either die or be taken as pleasure slaves. Despite not seemingly being very worldly, he suspected that Link knew that becoming a pleasure slave was a euphemism for sex slavery. And if he decided to fight, then the hero might have been able to defeat them. If, on the other hand, he gave in to Link's demand, he would let the children go, possibly causing morale among the soldiers, and maybe some of the nobles, to drop since he would have, in essence been blackmailed by Link into letting a group of rather attractive children, according to some of the soldiers and nobles, that is, escape, but he would also have the hero in his custody, for he knew that this Link would keep his word, no matter what, both in letter and in spirit. He eventually decided that it would be better to let the children go and capture the hero.

"Very well," the Knight declared. Turning to the soldiers holding the girl, he commanded, "Release the hostages. They're to be allowed to leave this place and return to their homes alive and unharmed."

"What?" one of the soldiers blurted. This resulted in the Knight taking his halberd and firing a magical bolt of energy at the soldier, felling him with the shot. "Anyone else want to question my orders?" he barked, daring the other soldiers to challenge him. He needed to put on a good show and he did not actually value any of his subordinates.

The other soldiers saw the corpse lying on the ground and, knowing that the same would be done to them if they did not obey the Knight, immediately released the children, allowing them to leave the area unmolested in any way. They did not want to meet the same fate as the soldier that had merely questioned the Knight's orders. The Knight then turned to Link. "Now it's your turn. Do know that I could still send them after the children and reacquire them if you refuse."

"That won't be necessary," Link said, putting his sword down on the ground and unslinging his bow, and placing it with his sword. His shield and sack soon joined his other weapons "I surrender."

The Knight grinned and motioned for soldiers to come and take Link. "Bind his hands," he instructed the soldiers. "We don't want to take any chances with this one."

The soldiers nodded and they bound Link's hands with rope. They then pushed Link forward as they made their way over to the castle. As Link was being led away, the Knight called over several soldiers and told them, "Find and kill half of the hostages. I don't care which ones you kill. The rest of them are to be taken as pleasure slaves. I want every Human to know the price for defying the Kingdom of Hyrule."

"Yes, sir," the soldiers answered, saluting the Knight and grinning.

Link, hearing this, strained against his captors as he attempted to break free and stop the slaughter that was about to come. "Wait!" he cried. "You said that they would go free unmolested!"

"I lied," the Knight said snarkily. "Look at it this way. Half of them won't have the horror of knowing what it is to be a pleasure slave in the House of Hyrule."

He then reached out and grabbed the youngest of the children, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes that looked to be no older than eight. He then raised his halberd and pointed it at the girl. The Knight touched his shoulder pad and the helmet covering his face retracted, revealing a Hylian male with brown hair, green eyes, and a beard. The man looked to be in his early fifties. Looking at the girl, he gave a lecherous grin as he said, "Such a waste of beauty."

However, just before he could pull the trigger, an arrow flew seemingly out of nowhere and struck the halberd in the magic crystal, piercing it. The arrow was small but it was still able to enter through one end of the crystal and out the other. Green sparks of energy arced along the crystal and the soldier then threw the halberd away. A second later, the magical weapon exploded among some soldiers, killing them.

He soon turned at the sound of a scream and saw a soldier with an arrow sticking out of his face, falling backwards. "Crap!" the Knight swore as he soon saw another soldier fall.

Link, seeing another soldier fall, knew that this was his cue to assist whoever it was that was helping him. He quickly engaged a soldier, swinging his fists into the face of a soldier, knocking him to the ground, dazing him. Link then went to the ground and used the soldier's swords to cut his bonds. With his bonds cut, he quickly grabbed his sword and thrust his sword down into the soldier's face. He then turned and raked his sword across the armor of a second soldier, knocking him to the ground. He then thrust his sword into the soldier's chest, the sword piercing his armor and burrowing into the soldier's heart.

With the two closest soldiers out of the way, Link went to get his equipment. He went over to his sack and pulled out his bow, quiver, and some bombs. He also pulled out some Bomb Arrows and searched for more targets. Notching his first arrow to his bowstring, he searched for the children, wanting to protect them and hopefully get them to safety. He found them being gathered by a group of soldiers, who were beginning to head towards Hyrule Castle. Link knew that he would have to plan his assault quickly and carefully, for if things looked hopeless, he knew that they would not hesitate to start killing the children. He targeted one of the soldiers with an explosive arrow and let fly with it. His arrow struck the soldier in the chest and exploded, the explosion piercing the armor and killing the soldier. He soon notched another arrow to his bow and fired, felling another soldier.

The soldiers, however, quickly realized that it was Link who was attacking and, thus, they drew their blades and went to hold them to the children. "Surrender now or they die!" the Hyrulean Knight cried. He had a wicked looking dagger held to the throat of the girl that he had intended to kill earlier. "I warned you that if you tried to resist, that the children would be the ones to suffer."

What neither the Knight, nor the other soldiers threatening the children, knew, though, was that Link had caught sight of two figures in the shadows. They looked to be powerful and were holding what looked to be glowing daggers. They subtly nodded towards Link, indicating that he should feign surrender until they could get into position. They silently moved behind the soldiers and the children and Link lowered his bow and arrow, dropping them on the ground. "That's better," the Knight cooed. "But that's not gonna save them," he added with a sadistic grin.

Those would be his last words, though, for soon, a glowing dagger would cut his throat, causing him to gasp for air and to fall to the ground. While the glowing nature of the blade seemed to cauterize the wound, the fact that his trachea had been severed would be his death sentence. Soon, another soldier fell to another blade, then another, and another. Link could clearly see the figures now. One of them looked to have red eyes and grayish hair, but she looked to be quite young, only in her mid twenties at the oldest. She wore bluish purple clothing, both her pants and shirt were of the same color and there was a symbol resembling an eye with a single tear flowing down it on her shirt. He had heard Zelda describe such people as Sheikahs, and she certainly seemed to be one. This was confirmed as one of the soldiers cried, "It's the fragging traitor," as he was killed.

The other figure was clearly a young Gerudo woman. She looked to be of a higher rank than other Gerudos that Link had known, though, save for Aveil. She had long orange hair, orange skin, and yellow eyes. She was wearing a white sleeveless shirt and baggy white pants. She was equipped with two scimitar-like swords. She was a whirlwind of action as she spun around and cut down four soldiers who had surrounded her, her swords cutting through their armor as if it were made if tissue paper.

Link also got in on the action, using his remaining explosive arrows to take down several soldiers who were attempting to attack the children in an attempt to deny them to their rescuers. One of the soldiers had gotten precariously close to the Sheikah woman and was about to kill her when Link's arrow had struck him in the head and disintegrated it. The Sheikah looked over at him and smiled, giving a curt nod.

Link then looked back at the scene and quickly went over to the children so he could cover them, readying a Bomb Arrow, just in case more soldiers showed up. Sure enough, two more Knights of Hyrule arrived on the scene, along with four soldiers. Link took aim at the party and let fly with his Bomb Arrow. The Bomb Arrow leapt from his bow and scored a direct hit on the lead Knight, blowing him apart. The explosion also sent the other Knight and the soldiers flying in all directions. They hit the ground and rolled to a halt, either unconscious or dead. As Link looked for more targets, he heard a female voice, one of his rescuers, cry, "Over here boy. We've got a way out of here."

He quickly looked for the source of the cry when he saw the Gerudo woman standing near a ramp that led to what looked to be either a sloop-of-war or a corvette, waving her hands. Its sails were already unfurled, but if the paddles on its side were any indication, it was not limited to the wind for power. Seeing the woman motioning towards him, he gathered the children and ushered them towards the ramp. He quickly readied his bow and covered the children, making sure that no soldiers pursued them. Standing at the end of the ramp was the Sheikah woman, who was busy fighting the crew of the vessel. Link quickly went ahead to assist her while the Gerudo woman ushered them onboard. As soon as Link joined the Sheikah woman, he noticed that the ship's crewmembers, the few that were stationed on the ship, were not wearing any armor. Link took out his bow and notched normal arrows to it as he pulled back and unleashed arrow after arrow at the crew. With each twang of his bow, another member of the crew fell. Despite not being armored, though, they were each carrying rifles, though Link and the Sheikah woman had managed to take them all down before they could even get a shot off.

Once the crew had been dealt with, the trio ushered the children onboard, Link carefully making sure that each child was accounted for. All ten of them were present. Once they had gotten onto the ship, Link noticed a large number of soldiers rushing towards the ship's ramp. There was no way that they would be able to hold off all of the soldiers. Link turned to the others and told them, "It's me they want. I'll go back to them and…"

"No way," the Sheikah woman said. "We're _all_ getting out of here."

Link then went to the ramp and fired a Bomb Arrow at the approaching soldiers. The arrow fell among the front ranks of the soldiers and exploded, sending a number of soldiers flying, some of them into the comrades behind them, knocking them down. Once the rest of the soldiers were preoccupied with either getting up or getting their wounded or dead comrades off their still living comrades, Link and the Gerudo woman pulled the ramp, denying any other soldiers access to the ship. Link then pulled out his bow and arrow to keep the soldiers that were coming towards the ship at bay while the Gerudo woman went to ready the ship. Link heard an explosion and a rhythmic chugging. The paddles of the boat began to move and the ship began to depart the harbor. The Gerudo woman then called over to Link, yelling, "Kid, take the wheel. We've gotta make sure they can't pursue us!"

It took Link a few seconds to know what the woman meant, but when he saw her standing by a wheel that looked like it was designed to steer the ship, he quickly realized what she wanted of him. Nodding, he rushed over to the wheel, firing one last series of arrows to keep off any soldiers that wished to use grappling hooks to board the ship.

As he took the wheel, the women went over to cannons on each side of the ship and pointed them at two docked ships that were stationed alongside the sloop. They quickly loaded powder and cannonballs into the two cannons and lit the fuses. "Cover your ears," they cried to everyone onboard the ship as they did so, too. Immediately, two loud explosions went off that shook the entire ship. The cannons fired their ammunition into the two ships docked on each side of the vessel. They had aimed for the waterline and the shots had gouged two holes into the larger ships that were docked at the harbor. However, these cannonballs were explosive cannonballs, so after firing into the ship, the balls exploded, creating much larger holes in the ships. The holes were large enough that the ships began taking on water and were sinking. With only skeleton crews initially operating the ships as they were getting underway in order to pursue the stolen sloop, there was insufficient personnel to repair the ships immediately. Link's stolen sloop steamed away as the two ships were taking on water. With all of the additional damage suffered from the exploding cannonballs, it was questionable as to whether or not the ships would ever be seaworthy again. Regardless, they were in no condition to pursue the stolen sloop, and their own position made it so that it would be difficult to maneuver any ships out to pursue the sloop as well. The soldiers simply stared as the sloop began to get smaller as it sailed towards the horizon. "So, who wants to tell the prince about this?"

Over in Hyrule Castle, Prince Daphnes was standing in his room, holding a sword. He grinned as he looked in a mirror, performing a few swipes with the sword before returning the blade and saluting himself by pointing the sword straight up. As soon as this was done, he heard a rapping at his door. He suppressed a groan as he went over to the door and opened it. Standing just outside the door was a young man little older than the prince. He was wearing the uniform of a servant of the castle, wearing a sky suit with dark pants. His attire indicated that he had a higher place in the castle than the other servants. The young man, looking no older than the prince, bowed as soon as the door opened. "Sire, I come bearing ill tidings."

The messenger then gave a pause, prompting the prince to grimace. "Don't keep me in suspense. What happened?"

"Sir, a Knight of Hyrule has come to the castle to report that there was an incident in the Castle Town's square and in one of the surrounding neighborhoods. In one neighborhood, a group of five soldiers and two Knights of Hyrule were killed. We found the bodies not too far away from a house that looked to have sustained damage of some sort, possibly due to fighting or a home invasion. While the occupants said nothing, indications are that some of the soldiers, as well as both Knights, had their own weapons fire reflected back at them, for the wounds were consistent with what would be suffered from taking a hit from a magical halberd blast. The far more concerning incident, though, took place in the Town Square. There, a carriage carrying captive Ordonian children found in the Faron Sector was attacked and the children freed. Thirty-two soldiers and Knights in all, three of them being the Barons Guigues and Humbert of Lon Lon Island, and the Count Phillip of Kakariko Island were killed or wounded in the fight, with all three nobles having been killed."

"What the hell were they doing taking the children into the Town Square when they were told to take a more surreptitious route?" Prince Daphnes roared.

"I have no idea, sire. I'm only the messenger."

"Any idea why it took so many soldiers to escort the children in the first place?"

The servant gave a shrug. "Who delivered the message?" the prince asked in a calmer tone.

"Sir Gawain of Riko," the messenger answered.

The prince gave a humph. "Well, continue with the message."

"Anyway, indications are that the one who freed the children was Link."

"Link?" the prince inquired.

The messenger nodded. "Sir Gawain said that the survivors reported that Link used explosive arrows in order to penetrate the heavy armor worn by the soldiers."

"And thirty-two soldiers were unable to kill a single teenager?" the prince asked incredulously.

"It gets worse, sir," the servant said, dreading the prince's wrath.

"How?"

"Sir, one of the Knights intercepted Link at the harbor and had recaptured the children. However, two assailants appeared, one of them being recognized as the traitorous Sheikah warrior, Impa, the other being the Gerudo rebel leader, Nabooru, and managed to free Link and the children. They stole the sloop-of-war, _H.R.S. Loftwing_ and sank the two docked frigates, _H.R.S. Tetra_ and _H.R.S. Shiro_ during their escape. All Hyrulean hands on all three ships were lost."

"So, if I'm hearing you correctly, Link not only managed to free the children twice, but he also stole a sloop-of-war and sank two frigates?"

"He did have help from Impa and a Gerudo rebel and he _is_ a hero," the servant offered. "It stands to reason that he would be superior to the standard soldiers and even the Knights of Hyrule."

"No one is that much better when vastly outnumbered!" the prince roared as he went over to a table that had a jar of expensive wine and other glasses on it and swept them off the table, a loud crashing and shattering of glass erupting as the glasses and jars fell to the floor and shattered. "And to steal a ship and sink two more?"

The servant said nothing, simply staring at the enraged prince as broke a very valuable jar of wine. The prince turned and saw the servant still staring at him, his mouth agape and roared, "What are you staring at?"

"Uh, nothing sire," the servant answered. "I'm just awaiting…"

"Leave!" the prince bellowed.

"Yes, sire," the servant stammered, bowing and making a quick exit.

The prince then seethed as he took in the news. The deaths of three nobles was not all that bad in the grand scheme of things. Scheming on the parts of other nobles claimed that many lives almost every two weeks or so. To lose the three ships, with two frigates being sunk, all to a single hero during a routine slave transfer _was_ bad.

As if to make matters worse, just as Daphnes was about to slump down onto the ground, the image of King Nohansen appeared over a bowl on a table not too far away. The prince saw his father and shot up, shocked by the contact. "Hello again, Daphnes?" the king asked, looking down at his son. "How are things going in Hyrule?"

"It could be worse," the prince said, doing his best to hide just how bad things had gotten. "But it could also be better," he then added softly.

"What happened?"

"We have our answer on Link. He won't join us. Not willingly."

"How do you know?"

"There was an incident on the island earlier today," Prince Daphnes answered. "A convoy bringing in some Ordonian children to the castle to become slaves was attacked by Link. The children were liberated and we lost thirty-two soldiers, Barons Guigues and Humbert of Lon Lon Island and Count Phillip of Kakariko Island being among the dead." He left out the part of him losing two frigates and having a sloop stolen.

The king gave a humph. "I guess we do," the said nonchalantly.

"What do you want me to do about the invasion of Ordona Province?"

"Have it proceed as planned," King Nohansen answered.

"But what about the Zoras?" the prince protested. "We don't need a hundred ships to take a small province like Ordona. However, with the Zoras attacking our ships and pirates attacking our shipping lines, we need more escorts to protect our supply lines."

"Ordona has enough supplies to last the Kingdom of Hyrule for centuries, alone. And that is with everything still being flooded. The conquest of Ordona Province is essential. It has a Light Spirit, one that may be willing to fight us, and it has other weapons and treasures as well that could pose problems for us if they are found in enemy hands. Its capture is of the utmost importance."

"Understood, Father," the prince said. With that, the image of the king disappeared.

Once the image of the king was gone, Daphnes slumped onto the ground. "Now I've gotta get someone to clean my room," he chuckled as he looked around at the mess he had made in his rage earlier.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Link stood at the wheel of the sloop, guiding it through the massive expanse of ocean as it sailed away from Hyrule Castle Island. Not too far in front of him, the Gerudo woman scanned the ocean for any signs of pursuit from the island. So far, though, there were no signs of any ships or smaller boats coming from the island. That was not too surprising since the sinking frigates would likely clutter the main channel of escape, giving the sloop a large head start. As they continued to sail away from the island, the large artificial island got smaller and smaller until it seemingly vanished over the horizon. Still, as they continued to sail away from the island, he felt as if there was still a chance that the ship was being tracked.

After about fifteen minutes or so of travel without any signs of pursuit, Link relaxed for a bit, as did the Gerudo woman. The woman went up to him and smiled kindly at him. Link returned the smile. "You did pretty good back there, hero," she said in a cheerful voice.

"I could not have done it without the help of you and that other woman," Link answered, motioning towards Impa, who was sitting near the children, checking them for any signs of injury.

"You mean Impa," the Gerudo said, looking back over at the Sheikah and nodding her head. Turning back to Link, she continued, "Yeah, she's a brave woman. Braver than all of us put together."

"What do you mean?"

"She used to be the nursemaid of Princess Zelda," the Gerudo woman answered. "When Zelda turned bad, it went against all of her instincts, training, and education to turn against the royal family and fight for the people, even though the royal family's grievances against the Sages were not without merit. Still, it's one thing to have an argument with someone. It's another to use that grievance to justify the atrocities that are being committed by the Hyrulean army. When she sided with Rauru and helped organize the resistance, she was immediately branded a traitor and a kill on sight order was given regarding her."

Link nodded. He then asked, "And who are you and why are you helping us?"

"Me? My name is Nabooru, named after an old Sage alternate and legendary Gerudo leader after the original Ganondorf was imprisoned and sealed. I was once a Gerudo pirate, but I did not want to steal from women, children, or any innocents. My people, however, were not so picky. I initially hated Hyrule because of how they picked on the Gerudos, but since the Gerudos had sided with Ganondorf before the Great Flood, I guess they deserved what they got. That doesn't mean that they still aren't out there, though. Their equal opportunity criminals. They'll take ships from Ordona or the Kokiri just as soon as they'd take ships from Hyrule. And they'll always go after civilian or lightly armed ships. Me and a few others, however, broke away from the main Gerudo group and are trying to rebuild a good relationship with the people that are not under the rule of Hyrule. As such, we only go after military ships and boats."

Link nodded and continued to focus on guiding the ship. He then looked over to Nabooru and asked, "Is there anyplace safe where we can go and drop off the children? I think they come from Ordona, but the province is also in the sights of the prince."

"We can go to Faron Province," came the answer from Impa, who was walking up to the wheel. "There is a friend there and the Hyrulean army's presence is minimal in that province. There, you'll find the remains of the Kokiri Forest, a magical village that has inhabitants that look like children that never age. The refugees should be safe there until the way to Ordona Province is clear.

Link nodded and looked over to Nabooru, who he suspected to be someone who had sailing experience. She quickly took the wheel so she could guide the ship to whatever was left of Faron above the waters. Link then went down to the main deck to assist Impa in scanning the sea for potential enemies, as well as make sure the guns were ready in case they needed to use them quickly.

An hour or so later, they were still on their journey. There had been no sign of pursuit, but there was also little sign of any islands of noticeable size throughout the ocean, either. Impa was up in the crow's nest looking out over the sea in an attempt to see where they should go while Nabooru was at the helm. Link, meanwhile, was below deck, making sure the cannons were clean and that they could be loaded quickly should worst come to worst and they be forced to fight. Some of the children were below deck with him, studying how to use the cannons in case they were attacked. One of the children, a Human boy at the age of ten with blond hair went up to him and studied him as the hero did the same with him, not knowing why the boy had taken an interest in him. Eventually, he broke the silence. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Do you know if there's any food on this ship?" the boy asked. "We're hungry." As if to accentuate his point, Link could hear his stomach growl. This growl was echoed by some of the other children's stomachs, too.

Link rose with a puzzled look on his face. He had not remembered seeing any signs of food being stored on the ship, but he figured that the ship would have to have some emergency rations for the crew since it was probably going out on assignment before it had been taken. He hoped that emergency rations would be acceptable for the children. He considered giving the children one of his remaining potions, but he nixed that idea when he realized that he did not have enough for all of them, and that if there was a problem and that one or more of them was injured, he would need the potion in order to heal them. "I don't know if this boat has any food," Link eventually said, answering the boy. Thinking about it, he did not know much at all about sailing or ships like this in general. "Do you know where the galley or a pantry might be?" He then winced as he was in the middle of asking his question, realizing how foolish his question sounded since the boy was asking him about food.

The boy shook his head. He did not give Link an odd look or comment on his question. After a moment, the boy then asked, "Do you know where we are going?"

"To Faron Province."

"But we're from Ordona Province. Faron is still inside of Hyrule," the boy answered worriedly.

Link could understand his concern. "From what I know the prince is sending the Hyrulean fleet to Ordona Province and it had already departed by the time you were rescued. I was told that they were going there to deal with pirates. However, considering how the people of Hyrule have behaved so far, particularly the nobility, chances are that they're not going there to deal with pirates, especially since they are sending practically the fleet there. It's probably not a good idea to head for Ordona right now, at least not by a direct route." Thinking about things, Link then added, "I don't even know if I could get to Ordona Province if worst came to worst. I don't know much about the sea or where the islands are in relation to each other. I don't even know if Ordona Province is still completely above water. You would have to talk to Impa or Nabooru about that. I only have my memories of Old Hyrule to go on."

The boy then produced a map from his pocket. "We found a map among the supplies a deck below."

The boy handed the map to Link and he immediately opened it, studying the map extensively. He found that Hyrule Castle Island was situated in the center of the map, with islands that were located in units called sectors, rather than provinces. He looked at the south and found Ordona Province situated outside of Hyrule. It was written in red letters, indicating that it must have been viewed as an enemy province or nation. He quickly found Faron Sector to the south, Lanayru Sector to the center and north, and Eldin Sector to the east. There was also the flooded sector to the west, which was identified as the Gerudo Sector. There seemed to be a large number of islands, which told him that there were still some places where he could rest and possibly drop off the children so they could find safety. He found Death Island, which looked to be the top of a volcano, indicating that the island was home to the Gorons. He figured that it was likely the remains of Death Mountain. Scanning the map, he also found Zora's Domain, indicating that the Zoras were still active. Link then turned to the boy and asked, "Do you know if any of the Sages are still active in Hyrule, or even in Ordona?"

He shook his head.

Link then shrugged. Thinking back on his conversation with the prince, he began to consider alternate routes and locations should the way to Faron be blocked. He wondered if Zora's Domain would be a good alternate location idea since it seemed as if the Zoras were enemies of the Hyrulean Royalty and that they could protect the children. Still, given the direction he was going, he figured that it would be foolish to turn around and risk detection by the fleets of Hyrule unless they were already detected. He figured that Nabooru and Impa knew best, anyway. Besides, they had a friend in Faron Province. That gave him the feeling that the children would be safe there for a time. He then focused once more on the map, trying to think about any strategies for what he would do once the children were dropped off in Faron. He looked at Eldin Sector and thought back to Kakariko Village and remembered that there had been some Humans in the village in his time. Still, he doubted that any free Humans remained in Hyrule proper. It looked like besides Impa, Nabooru, and maybe a few others, Link would be on his own against the forces of Hyrule. This was nothing new to him since he had dealt with Ganondorf, Ghirahim, and Demise on his own, but he had a feeling that this challenge would be greater than facing all of those combined. Only the Magic Lords would be more dangerous, and with them, he had the Master Sword as well as Midna and the defenses of the Palace of Twilight to hold them back. The prince had practically everyone in Hyrule either fighting for him, or for their own personal gain. And given the personalities of the nobles he had encountered, chances were that there were few, if any, good nobles still alive. He then got back to examining the cannons to make sure they were functioning properly so that if they were forced into a battle, that they would be able to fight back. The last thing he wanted was to be caught flatfooted.

The trip to Faron Province lasted for several more hours. Along the way, Link had returned to the main deck and was looking out over the sea. He spotted several islands in the water, which the ship had to maneuver around in order to avoid. As they did so, he and the other children who had studied how to operate the cannons were stationed near them, just in case the islands hid any enemy ships or watchtowers. Most of the islands that Link saw on the journey were small, so small that there was not even enough room to build any houses on them. Some, however, were noticeably larger and even seemed to have some houses or even a small collection of huts that could count for a small village. From what he could tell, though, everyone who worked on said islands seemed to wear the normal attire that Link had seen from the Hyrule of his own time. More importantly, though, was the fact that he saw no security on these islands, even those that only seemed to have a single house. In fact, it seemed as if the houses and the people on these islands had little to no technology at all. He considered asking the children more about what he was seeing, but suspected that they may not have known much more than he did about Hyrule, especially since they were from Ordon Village and they had had little knowledge of the world outside of Ordona. He only hoped that there would be a safe place for the children in Faron. He then went up to Nabooru and asked her about the reason the islands looked to be in the state they were in.

"When King Nohansen took over Hyrule, he took his frustrations regarding his daughter out on the Sages," Nabooru explained. "There was a large conflict and many people ended up working with the Sages against the king and his forces. However, King Nohansen won the war and all of his enemies were sealed beneath the waves. However, even before then, he had not liked how weak Hyrule was becoming, so when he finally won, he made certain that everyone knew that _he_ was the one in charge. With Link, our Link, and Zelda sealed beneath the waves due to their battle against the Dark Woman, the only piece of the Triforce that remained was the Triforce of Power. Using it, he gained hold of the Light Force and gave it to Daphnes, who used it to create Hyrule Castle Island, the floating island we just escaped. Much of what you see here is the work of Daphnes. Let's just say, he is a ruthless, sadistic, evil dastard. You were at his court during a party, right?"

Link nodded.

"Well, you saw how young some of those dancers were."

Link gave another melancholy nod.

"As bad as that is, that's the least of what he does. The children you rescued were being sent to become pleasure slaves for the court. Even if you've been raised under a rock, I don't have to tell you how horrible that life would be for the kids. He gives his soldiers leeway to do whatever they want as long as they don't step on the toes of the nobles. The commoners have no rights whatsoever here. A noble could look at one, grin, and then lop his head off just because he wanted to. Such acts are far more common than one would think…far too common," she muttered wistfully. "And we all thought being ruled by Ganon, or even his ancestor, Ganondorf, would have been bad."

Link could understand Nabooru's line of thinking. While Ganondorf and Zant were unrepentantly evil, as were Demise and Ghirahim, he got the feeling that there were some lines that even _they_ would not cross. There was no such restraint from the prince, though. He even began to wonder if King Nohansen was as bad as the prince. As if sensing his question, Nabooru answered, "Also, just so you know, King Nohansen isn't any better. The only thing that can be said about him is that he won't be so overt about it. And that's primarily so that he does not sow the seeds of rebellion among any nobles that may still have some scruples. He _does_ have the power and ability to stop Daphnes' cavorting and more evil practices. He just does not care since it's primarily Humans that are suffering."

"Why do they hate Humans so much?" Link asked.

"Who knows?" Nabooru said, raising her arms in a shrug. "The official line is that Humans are inferior since they can't perform any magic. However, most Humans are physically stronger than Hylians are in a physical fight so that excuse does not seem to hold water. Some say that Humans are outsiders and that this world does not belong to them. I don't know about that since Hylians and Humans can mate and produce fertile offspring. Some think it's just because Humans are noticeably different from Hylians, not having pointed ears, and, that the king and prince are making up excuses and using Humans as scapegoats for the problems of Hyrule as a whole. I must say I believe that the last theory is the one that's most likely true."

Link nodded. It would make sense, in a way. Ordona Province was very prosperous while Hyrule had suffered through a massive flood that had sealed most of the country off to the Hylians, likely killing thousands if not millions of people. There would be resentment for the prosperity of places like Ordon Village, which only consisted of Humans. The king and/or prince could use this to stroke the flames of war and also use that as an excuse to draft more people into the military, or simply convince them to join voluntarily on their own with the promise of getting a piece of Ordona's wealth in the bargain. He then relaxed a bit and continued to look out over the sea as the trip continued.

Midway into the trip, Link was about to relax a bit everyone heard a cry from Impa in the crow's nest. "We've got company. There's a submarine on the starboard side!" she cried.

Link had never heard of a submarine before. "Submarine?" he called over to Nabooru in question.

Nabooru quickly scanned the water and found something not too far away from the ship. She pointed to what looked to be a wooden barrel floating in the water. On top of it was a smaller barrel-shaped object featuring a doorway and a periscope on top. Link was surprised when he saw the vessel at how crude it looked. It looked antiquated compared to the vessels currently in use by the Hyrulean Navy. "Come on, everyone," Nabooru called to Link and the children. "We've gotta either get out of here or sink that thing. They can fire torpedoes."

Link did not need to ask what torpedoes were, for give how Nabooru was speaking, he suspected that they were a lot like underwater cannons and that they either functioned much like Water Bombs, or were Water Bombs that functioned like Bombchus or Bomblings. Not wanting to risk the submarine being able to report a lone sloop-of-war heading towards Faron Province, he went below to the gun deck to man one of the cannons. He went over to the center cannon and looked for its ammunition. He quickly found a supply of cannonballs and picked one up. It was heavy, but not as heavy as he anticipated and the ease with which he lifted it surprised the children with him as well. He was about to hoist it into the cannon when he suddenly remembered that he needed a special powder in order for the cannon to fire. He looked around for the powder when a boy rolled a barrel of gunpowder to him. He put the cannonball down and opened the barrel of gunpowder, lifting it up and pouring it into the cannon. He then lifted the ball and placed it into the cannon, one of the children ramming the ball until it was snugly in the cannon. He then adjusted the cannon's position so that it was on target with the submarine. As he was lining up his shot with the submarine, he saw a flash and a cloud of smoke rise from the submarine. After a second, he saw a splash just in front of them as a jet of water rocketed up in front of them.

"Quickly, take that thing out before it sinks us!" Nabooru cried almost frantically.

Link quickly lined up his shot, which was harder than it looked since the ship was now buffeted by a series of waves. Eventually, he got an accurate bead on the submarine and he lit the fuse. He then covered his ears, as did the rest of the children on the deck, and the cannon fired. A loud boom echoed throughout the sea and reverberated throughout the ship. Link could not accurately see the trajectory of the cannonball but knew that his aim was true when he saw an explosion against the hull of the enemy submarine. Fire erupted from the enemy submarine as debris was ejected from the epicenter of the explosion. What was left of the sub quickly sank beneath the waves, prompting Link to relax a bit. He then went back up to the main deck to keep a lookout while the ship continued to head for Faron Sector. He assisted Impa in keeping his eyes peeled for any other enemy ships or submarines, for he did not want to have to face down another submarine again, knowing that he was lucky that the submarine gunner's aim was so bad. Still, he could not help but wonder if that submarine was, indeed, a Hyrulean submarine, a submarine belonging to another naval force, or a pirate vessel. He did not think to long on it, though, and simply focused on his task at hand. As he did so, he heard Nabooru congratulate everyone, saying, "Good work everyone, we should hopefully be clear for the time being. Keep a close watch on the seas and have someone manning the cannons, though. We don't want to be ambushed by another pirate submarine. We were fortunate that it was merely pirates that were facing and that we were not sunk this time around."

The children nodded and immediately broke off and went to man the cannons, just in case an enemy found their lone understaffed ship a tempting target. As Link went back to his work, his thoughts shifted back to how he was going to make a difference and how he would be able to save Hyrule. There was even the question of whether or not Hyrule deserved to be saved. Despite everything that was going on, not many people seemed to go out of their way to help one another. They had merely cowered at the sight of him, those that were not soldiers, seemingly viewing him as a monster. Maybe the Link of this time was really bad, but he suspected that the people lacked the courage that the people of his own Hyrule had possessed. He hoped that what he saw was only representative of Hyrule Castle Island and not of everyone in Hyrule as a whole. A fleeting thought of Midna and what had happed to her also entered his mind, but it passed quickly. He only hoped that she had not arrived in this time and was not caught up in what was happening now, or one of its casualties.

The whole trip to Faron Province took a few hours to complete. Given the amount of time it took to reach Hyrule Castle Island from the Arbiter's Grounds, Link suspected that the island was making its way to Faron Province, or at least somewhere south of where the original Hyrule Castle Town had been located. He did not think too much about it, though, and focused on whatever his current destination would be as he sat back in his chair. There were a large number of possibilities.

Near the end of the trip, one of the children, a Human girl with brown hair and blue eyes, went up to him and informed him, "Sir, the Forest Haven is not too far away. We could go there. The armies of Hyrule never go into that area. They're too scared of the forest spirits. We should be safe there. It has the remnants of a forest that was said to protect the Hero of Time once, long ago. Perhaps we can use it as shelter, too."

Link considered the girl's suggestion. He did not have any better ideas, and if this was the forest said to be home to the Hero of Time, then it may have been close to the Sacred Grove, and possibly even the Temple of Time. "That's not a bad idea," Link replied to the girl. "I'll go see what Nabooru and Impa think about this." The girl then nodded smiled, pleased with herself for making the suggestion and that Link was considering it.

Link then proceeded to head up to Nabooru and told her, "One of the children has said that the Forest Haven is not too far away. They say that it would be a good sanctuary for the time being since the armies of Hyrule don't venture there."

"That's exactly where we're headed," he heard the voice of Impa say from behind. He looked back and saw the Sheikah woman approach him calmly. "How long until we're there, Nabooru?"

"At present speed, we should be there in about fifteen minutes or so." She then turned to Link and told him, "Tell the children that we may have found some sanctuary, at least for a time."

"Yes, ma'am," the hero responded. He then went below deck to tell the children the good news. While he did that, the ship set course for the island.

It only took fifteen minutes or so for the island to come into view. During those minutes, though, they had spotted another submarine. This one, however, seemed to have been made of metal, indicating that it was likely a part of the Hyrulean Navy. Since it looked to be far stronger than the wooden submarine they had faced earlier, Link did not want to engage if a battle could at all be avoided and they remain undetected. In addition, Link was hoping that it was either non-hostile or, if it was affiliated with the Hyrulean navy, that it would not suspect that the boat was under the control of Link, a Sheikah, Gerudo, and some children. The children stayed out of sight and did their best to look as natural as possible, hoping that they were not spotted, but if they were, to not look suspicious. When the submarine had made no hostile moves towards them, they decided to not do anything to antagonize it or cause it to become suspicious of them. They just continued on their way as casually as they could. However, the submarine was not buying it.

The submarine soon turned towards the sloop in a suspicious manner. Impa noticed this and cried to Nabooru, "Go evasive! They're trying to target us with their torpedoes!"

Nabooru immediately spun the wheel to the right, causing the massive ship to turn far more quickly than Link would have expected. Link noted that this would give the submarine a smaller profile to work with, but it also meant that there would only be one cannon trained on the sub. He then looked out into the water and saw something approaching the ship. It looked like a long rod with fins on the back, possibly a propeller. The rod barreled through the water and was thankfully on the side. "A torpedo," Impa muttered audibly. She then turned to Link and directed, "Link take off your hood and go to the bow of the ship. We need to use our forward cannon to take out that sub before it takes _us_ out."

Link complied with the order and rushed to the front of the ship. Impa also went to join him, putting on a cloak that had the Sheikah symbol on it. He suspected that she hoped to avoid being detected and that they would look to the submarine to only be reacting to a hostile act by the sub. He also suspected that she did not want to be identified because if the submarine's captain and crew found out that they were out here, that they could report back to Hyrule Castle as to where Link was and they would send soldiers to capture him.

They got to the cannon, which looked to be smaller than the large broadside cannons that were on the gun deck below and quickly loaded it with gunpowder. As he did so, he noticed the smaller size of the cannonball and asked Impa, "Will this be enough against a metal ship?"

"Pray that it is," was the Sheikah's only response.

Once the powder was loaded, Link looked out over at the sea and saw the submarine seemingly rise a bit out of the water. This was accompanied by a flash along with a puff of smoke. "Down," Impa cried as she barreled into the her and knocked him to the deck. A second later, they saw a brief flash of black as a cannonball came hurtling overhead, missing the ship by inches, landing in the water to the starboard aft part of the vessel, causing a jet of water to rise as it splashed. The two then got back up and quickly loaded the cannon, hoping that they had enough time to do so before the submarine fired again. Link shoved the cannonball into the bore of the cannon and Impa rammed it to the cannon's rear. She then lit the fuse as Link did his best to line up a shot with the submarine. As soon as she lit the fuse, both she and Link covered their ears and backed away from the cannon as it fired, the weapon emitting a loud thunderous boom. The two then looked over to the submarine and saw an explosion against its hull, along with fire erupting from the explosion. However, as Link had dreaded, the submarine did not sink and the vessel did not appear to be severely damaged.

"Again!" Impa cried as she began loading more powder into the cannon. Link then assisted with the cannonball as they were waiting for the submarine to return fire. It did, but in the form of a torpedo. The long rod-like torpedo came rocketing towards the ship, forcing Nabooru to bank the ship hard to the left, causing Link to have to hold onto a rope to avoid being dragged along the deck, and potentially being sent overboard by the sharp turn. The aim of the gunners on the submarine must not have had much experience, for the torpedo's aim was off and it sailed through the water to the ship's right, missing the ship entirely.

Once the torpedo had passed, Impa and Link went back to work loading the cannonball into the cannon so they could deal with the submarine before it finally got it right and took the ship out with one or two well-placed hits. After Link got the cannonball into the cannon, Impa rammed it down. Once she lit the fuse, she and Link backed away once more and the cannon fired again. Again, they waited for a second before seeing another explosion against the hull of the submarine. Fire shot from the hole again, but this time, it appeared as if the shot inflicted more damage. Whether it was due to luckily hitting right where the first cannonball had struck or they hit a gun port or other opening, Link and Impa did not care. They went to take full advantage of the opportunity presented to them by this opening.

Once more, Link went to the barrel of gunpowder and poured it into the breech of the cannon. He then went around and carried another cannonball to the muzzle and shoved it in. Impa then rammed it down as Link took aim at the stricken submarine. Once the cannon was loaded and on target, Impa went to light the fuse. Once the fuse was lit, Link covered his ears and backed away from the cannon, as did Impa. Another thunderous boom erupted as the cannon fired for a third time. After the cannon had fired, the two looked out over at the submarine and soon saw another explosion against its hull. Flame erupted from the explosion and Link could see pieces of metal flying out from the explosion. The flame also did not seem to die this time as it had with the previous two firings. The submarine appeared to be listing to one side as smoke rose from the craft. However, despite the fact that the craft was listing, it did not sink. Link though he could see some of its crew looking out from the holes in the ship. He soon noticed that some of the crew seemed to be hurling themselves into the water, even those that seemed to not be able to swim. He wondered why they would be doing that when there was another explosion, this one being massive. This explosion tore the submarine apart, sending wreckage and debris in all directions. It was no obvious as to why the crew seemed to take their chances in the water. He figured that the fires caused by the shots must have reached the powder or ammunition storage and had caused the ammunition to go off.

With the submarine having been dealt with, Link, Impa, and even Nabooru relaxed a bit. Link still looked out over the sea to see if the submarine had had any companions, but he found none. When he was certain that they were in the clear for the time being, he went over to Impa and asked, "Will you need my help with anything else?"

"We should be fine up here for the time being. We'll call you if we need anything."

Link then nodded and went below deck to be with the children and tell them that it seemed as if the danger had passed and that the way to Forest Haven was clear.

Over in Hyrule Castle, Prince Daphnes had been in the main hall, practicing with a ceremonial sword after having given an update to his father on the circumstances regarding Link and his attempted recapture. So far, he had not had any success, for the sinking of the two frigates in the harbor had created a bottleneck that prevented any larger ships from escaping. However, with elements of his fleet spread throughout Hyrule in an effort to protect the shipping lanes from piracy and raids from any enemy forces, he knew that the sloop would eventually be found. He had used his powers to tell all of the sea captains and commanders of the theft of the sloop and had offered a reward for the successful recapture, destruction and/or death of Link and the others onboard. He had added in a special bonus if the children could be reclaimed, with special instructions to _not_ take them through the town square if they were brought back to Hyrule Castle alive.

The prince's practice had been interrupted when an image appeared over his golden bowl. The image of a sea captain instantly appeared above the bowl, with crewmembers appearing in the background. "Sire, we have important news," the captain had said hurriedly.

The prince waited for a second for the captain to tell him what it was, for he had been in the middle of an imaginary battle with Link, a battle where he was slaughtering the hero. When the captain seemed to be waiting for a response from the prince, Daphnes grunted. "Well don't keep me in suspense, Captain, what is it?"

"Sir, we have spotted a ship that matches the stolen sloop. Our resident mage indicates that the ship is being crewed only by two adults, a teenager, and a group of children. We are engaging them now. Their destruction should come shortly."

The prince shot up and his eyes went wide. That was them. It had to be. He had not expected them to be found so quickly, but he had no complaints. As long as Link was either captured or dead, he did not care. He then noticed the image shake as the captain began to look nervous. "Sire, we've just taken a hit. The ship has a bow gun."

That clinched it. That was the ship that Link had stolen. "Destroy them!" the prince commanded.

"We're trying," the captain retorted. "The ship is maneuverable for a ship its size. It has avoided our torpedoes and the gun crew is not very experienced."

"How can you have trouble sinking a freaking frigate?" the prince blurted.

The image shook again and the prince could see the effects of an explosion, as well as several bodies flying through the air. "Because the frigate's shooting back and hit us in one of our gun ports!" He then left the image for a second and the prince heard the captain cry, "Get that fire under control. Don't let it spread to the ammunition storage!" The captain then returned to his station and said, "Sorry about that. We took a big hit. Our targeting data is scrogged and we can't seem to land a telling shot on that frigate since it's turned towards us."

The prince grimaced as he watched the scene unfold. Soon, he witnessed the image shake again. This time, though, there was a large gout of flame appearing in the image and the captain gave a cry as he was thrown out of the image. The prince grimaced again, knowing that the submarine had suffered another direct hit, this time in the control center, and that the captain was likely either dead or severely wounded. The prince then saw another officer, a young Hylian with brown hair come to the communications module. "Who are you?" Daphnes asked.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Sander," the officer responded.

"Can you tell me where you are and where the ship you're chasing is headed?"

The officer nodded. "We found them headed towards the Forest Haven in Faron Sector. Sire, we won't last much…" but the communication was cut off and the image vanished. The prince grimaced as he realized that the ship was destroyed.

Once contact with the submarine had been lost, the prince retreated from the bowl and went over to a curtain. He pulled on the curtain and said, "I need you for a mission."

Just then, a man emerged from behind the curtain. The man wore the uniform of a Sheikah warrior. "Link and the children he freed are headed towards Faron Sector, to the Forest Haven," the prince said. "I want you to find Link and capture him. I don't care who you have to take with you or what you need to do. I just want Link brought back here in chains."

"Understood, my lord," the Sheikah soldier said, bowing.

The prince then handed a piece of paper to the Sheikah warrior and said, "This will get you anywhere you have to go. Use it to get to the nearest frigate and tell them to take you to Faron Sector. I want Link."

"Yes, my lord," the Sheikah soldier said once more before vanishing without a sound, and barely a trace of movement. The prince then went back to practicing with his sword. He had a strong feeling that he would be facing Link in the near future, one way or the other.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Back on the stolen ship, the island containing the Forest Haven came into view as the ship made its way past the wreckage of the destroyed submarine. It was a large island, relatively speaking, and it looked like it was more than large enough to house a whole village on it. Link was able to see a huge tree off in the distance. He suspected that it was likely either the old Forest Temple that he had explored on his previous quest. Once the island was within view, Link focused his attention on the island and watched to see if there were any Hyrulean ships protecting it. So far, it seemed to have been unprotected, for he found no signs of Hyrulean ships at all, aside from the submarine that they had destroyed. While that did not mean that there were not any soldiers on the island, itself, he still felt that they had a better chance on the island should there be an ambush waiting for them than if they were ambushed at sea.

He continued to scan the island and quickly noticed that there did not seem to be a harbor for the ship to dock in. Looking back at Nabooru and Impa, though, they seemed unconcerned. Nabooru simply guided the ship around the perimeter of the island and eventually, Link managed to spot an area that looked like a dock of some sort. When it was within sight, he saw both Impa and Nabooru give a relieved smile. "Good, it's still here."

"What do you mean?" the hero asked, puzzled as to their relief.

"There were also reports of a battle between two ships here, a pirate galleon and an Ordonian sloop," Impa explained. "We were worried that the dock had sustained some damage or would have even been unusable. If that were the case, we would have been in trouble since there are no escape boats on this vessel. In addition, there have also been reports that one of Ganon and Twinrova's minions from before the flooding, a large knight named General Onox, had been spotted around here. He's been seen off and on again by a variety of people all throughout the Hyrulean Sea on various islands. Onox is allied with no one and he will attack any target of opportunity, which just happens to be anyone he comes across. People have been worried about what he will do now that Veran is dead since he and Veran used to work together for Twinrova."

"We shouldn't have to worry about Onox too much," Nabooru called down. "He generally only goes after the weak and defenseless, not armed parties. He hasn't really gone after any Sheikah warriors, after all."

"I'm not sure how much of that is due to the fact that he's worried about facing Sheikahs, or that he may have a side deal with Prince Daphnes. Daphnes doesn't exactly value the lives of his own soldiers. He may feed some of them to the general on a whim just to keep Onox happy."

Impa had to admit that that was a distinct possibility. Still, she did not want to dwell on that prospect too much at the moment. The thing she wanted the most was to get to Forest Haven and get the children to safety. Then she could start making plans on how to save some of the other less fortunate denizens of Hyrule. If Onox came, she suspected that Link, her, and Nabooru would be able to defeat him.

It only took a few more minutes for Nabooru to direct the ship to the dock. As she was doing so, Impa called the children up onto the main deck so they could bring in the sails and allow the ship to get to the dock without a gust of wind causing them to crash and damage the dock, or worse, hull the ship. The children worked quickly and they had gotten the sails in as Nabooru used the ships steam powered paddles to guide it to a stop next to the dock.

As the ship got closer to shore, Link took a look at the dock and made note that there were very few buildings present in the area. It looked as if the island had no defenses to speak of, either by way of its indigenous population or by the Hyrulean military. It looked as if the dock was currently not in use by anyone, which gave him pause. In fact, if he had not known better, he would have guessed that the island was abandoned, which may have been the reason for the dock looking so deserted. He checked his sack to make sure that he had all of his equipment with him, for he did not want to risk going on shore without bringing his entire inventory along, on the off chance that Onox, or some other enemy, had decided that Forest Haven was the perfect place to make camp for the time being.

Once the ship was docked, a ramp was extended from the main deck and placed on a rock outcropping undoubtedly designed to be a second ramp to shore. The children rushed down the ramp and onto the stone dock. Impa rushed after the children to make sure that they did not get too far ahead in case there were any unfriendly forces ahead. Nabooru waited until the ship was anchored before departing the ship. The last one off the ship was Link. As he walked down the ramp and to the dock, he noticed Nabooru looking over the ship. "I must say, this is quite a catch," she noted as she looked over the ship. "She may be a sloop but she's stronger than any other ship we've got. She'll be able to take on anything less than a frigate."

"I thought that you were once affiliated with the Gerudo pirates," Link commented.

"I was," Nabooru said, looking over at Link. "Even so, the pirates don't have ships of this quality. This ship is also pretty big and heavily armed for a mere sloop. This is almost as strong as a frigate. Most pirate and rebel ships are small vessels with only a single cannon and a crew that is oftentimes measured in either the single digits or in teens. This one sloop could probably take on almost half of the pirate ships sailing the Hyrulean Sea and destroy them. That's why pirates don't generally attack military ships unless they're already crippled."

"And what about the rebels?" Link asked, continuing his line of questioning. "Surely they must have been able to capture some high value ships of Hyrule, or possibly one of the ship captains defected."

"No one defects from the military of Hyrule," Nabooru stated in a melancholy tone. "Save for Impa, who was the first rebel, almost every rebel started out as one, or was a mercenary soldier hired to protect villages from pirates and brigands."

Link found it hard to believe that with everything that was going on in Hyrule that so few people would be rebelling against the prince, or even the king if the king were as bad as the prince. "Why hasn't anyone of means rebelled against the prince? If things are as bad as you say, I would guess that someone would be angry enough to rebel, even if they were still afraid."

"Because Hyrulean royalty basically has all the power," the Gerudo woman answered. "They have complete control of the military. You've seen how extravagant the lifestyles of the nobles are. They give many of their higher-ranking soldiers similar benefits, though not necessarily on the same level. As for the lower-ranking soldiers, they serve because if they don't, their own families will be put in jeopardy. It's not just Humans that are turned into pleasure slaves, or archery targets, if it so suits a lord. If you're not nobility in Hyrule, you're lower than dirt. And no one who has weapons or a decent lifestyle sees any real need to rebel. They don't care about Humans, or serfs. They're seen as sub-Hylian. Besides, there has been no real rebel leader that others can gather around. The rebels are primarily scattered into small groups or cells with no affiliation with each other." The Gerudo woman than gritted her teeth and kicked the ground, indicating that she had a personal stake in this. Link did not press her any further.

Once she was finished inspecting the ship's hull to make sure that there were no anomalies, she headed on over to Impa and followed the Sheikah woman. Link also followed them, wanting to make sure that the children were safe before he planned his next move. He quickly drew his sword and readied his shield, not wanting to be caught flat-footed against any potential enemy threats that might be coming for them. He was still suspicious due to how deserted the island looked.

As Impa led the children, she looked back and saw Link and Nabooru catching up to her and the children. As soon as they had caught up, Link called out to the others, "Be on your guard everyone. I've been in Faron before and it is inhabited by carnivorous plants known as Deku Babas along with blood-sucking bats called Keese."

"You can add Bokoblins to that list, too," Impa added, looking back at the hero, noticing that he had already drawn his weapon. "We should each take part in the defense." Focusing on Link, she asked, "Link, do you have any ranged weapons besides a bow and arrow?"

Link nodded and produced a slingshot.

"Good," Impa continued, nodding. "You're going to deal with any Keese that come our way. Nabooru and I will take on any Bokoblins and Deku Babas that we run across.

Link and Nabooru nodded as the Gerudo warrior drew twin scimitar-like blades. She then stood by Link as they scanned their surroundings for any signs of enemies or hostile flora or fauna. So far, though, there were no signs of enemies on the island. Link only hoped that as they approached the large tree off in the distance, that this would continue.

Link looked forward and saw the large tree that loomed over them off in the distance not too far away. The tree did not look to be alive, though. In fact, the tree, itself, looked to be somewhat artificial, for it was so large that it looked as if it could house an entire village.

Unfortunately, not too far into the trek, they were accosted by a quartet of Purple Bokoblins. The Bokoblins were no match for Impa and Nabooru, though, and they were cut down with contemptuous ease by the two seasoned warriors. Still, the children were quite fearful and none of them hid their fear as Impa and Nabooru protected them. Link had been tempted to put away his slingshot and draw his sword so he could help them when he found a flock of Keese coming to dive-bomb the children. Several of the Keese were Fire Keese, Keese that were burning, though the fire did nothing to harm them. Link quickly took aim with his slingshot and took down the Keese one by one. One pellet was all it took to defeat the bat-like enemies. In less than a minute, all of the enemies were defeated and the path was clear.

The rest of the trek to the large tree in the distance was not too difficult. All the group encountered were a few more flocks of Keese, a flock of Guays, crow like birds that would attack anything that entered their territory. The Guays were a little smaller than Link remembered, but they were still just as easy to dispatch. A single slingshot pellet was all it took to fell a single Keese or Guay. As Nabooru and Impa led the children towards the tree, Link shot down the offending bats and crows. In less than a minute, the threat had been eliminated.

Eventually, the group arrived at the Kokiri Tree. As they had all suspected, it was immense, easily large enough to house an entire village. The wood was dark brown and Link was quick to glean that something was not right, for the bark appeared to be peeling.

"So that's the Kokiri Tree," Nabooru said seemingly in wonder.

"That it is," Impa replied, nodding. Her tone indicated that she had seen this tree before. Still, her tone indicated that it was still as wondrous to her as the first time she had seen it. "It's impressive to look at, but remember that the tree was created by the Great Deku Tree as a barrier to protect the Kokiri village inside. No one save for a few people in the world know about the Kokiri Tree's secret."

"It doesn't look all that healthy," Link commented, looking all along the tree and seeing the peeling bark. Looking at the wood underneath, he could see that it looked to be rotting, for it was taking on a grayish color. Link had never seen anything like this before so he did not know if this was normal, but he had the impression that it was not, and that something was very wrong. Impa and Nabooru quickly came up to him and went to examine the tree with him. He soon broke the silence again. "Is this normal?"

"No," Impa answered in a concerned voice. "This tree should be completely covered with dark brown bark and should be vibrant. She looked up at the branches Link was focusing on and could see what he could, too. She scowled as she examined the tree.

"What's wrong Miss Impa?" one of the children asked.

"The Kokiri Tree is dying, if not already dead," Impa answered in a grim voice.

"What do we do now?" one of the other children asked.

"Can we still go into the tree's village?"

"We probably don't have much choice," Impa answered. "Unless you want to try to make for Ordona Province or sleep out in the forest and hope we aren't set upon by a large band of Bokoblins or Keese or Guays."

"One thing, Impa," Nabooru began.

"What is it?"

"If the Kokiri Tree is dead or dying, does that mean that the wards that protect the village inside might have fallen or been destroyed, too?"

Impa had not thought about that. "Yes," she answered in a quiet tone that was full of dread. "And if that is the case, then chances are that we may encounter enemies inside the village."

This prompted Link and Nabooru to draw their swords. Impa also drew her knife and readied a volley of poisoned needles just to be on the safe side. With that, the group searched for the entrance to the village.

"There should be an opening around here," Impa told the group. "Look for a small indentation and some vines."

"Like this?" one of the children asked. The child was standing near a small indentation that looked quite suspicious. There were also vines attached to it.

"That's it!" the Sheikah exclaimed. She then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a light brown ocarina. She went up to the indentation and put the ocarina to her lips. She then blew into it and played an upbeat series of notes on the ocarina. As she played, Link could not help but notice that they were notes to the song that echoed throughout the Sacred Grove during his chase of the Skull Kid. As soon as the song ended, a glowing green outline formed in the tree's bark. Then, a crack was heard and formed in the tree. Soon, a round door moved slightly inward and slid back to reveal the way into the village. With that, Impa and Nabooru led the children into the village with Link bringing up the rear to make sure that no monsters attempted to follow them into the village.

Once the group entered the village, they stopped so they could look around and examine the village. It was a small village with most of the homes for the Kokiri being built into tree stumps. There appeared to be little technology present and from what they could tell, there also appeared to be no one outside. They quickly found out why that was when Link stepped forward and a monstrous purple Deku Baba sprouted from the ground. The children gave shrieks of surprise and jumped back, but Link was not so easily startled. He quickly drew his sword and shield and faced down the beast. The Baba lunged towards him, causing Link to jump to the side to avoid it. He then slashed downward and struck the carnivorous plant on the head. The blade bit into the plant and it recoiled, standing erect as it was stunned. The hero then rushed in and immediately cut the plant's stem, causing it to fall to the ground. Link then jumped into the air and stabbed his blade downward onto the Deku Baba's head, performing an Ending Blow on him, ending the threat of the Baba.

Once the Deku Baba had been dealt with, Link quickly scanned the area ahead to see if there were any other enemies present in the village. He moved forward to explore the village as Impa and Nabooru remained with the children to protect them. Sure enough, after taking a few steps forward, another plant-like enemy emerged from the ground. This one, however, was different. These enemies were small and had wooden bodies that were covered with leaves. They emerged from flowers that resembled a pile of leaves and had relatively long snouts or mouths, Link could not tell which, that opened up, almost certainly designed for shooting objects at Link. Link remembered hearing about such creatures in the past as being referred to as Deku Scrubs, though he had never seen one before. He had heard that there were a number of variants among the Deku Scrubs. These seemed to have brown and red colored leaves, giving an autumnal appearance. Sure enough, the Scrub that emerged quickly shot off a volley of three nuts that appeared to be Deku Nuts, one right after the other. Link raised his shield and deflected the nuts back at the source. The first nut was bounced into the second one, destroying both, but the third nut managed to be deflected right back at the Scrub. As soon as it was hit, it rose and fled from Link. The hero quickly gave chase after the plant as it proceeded to fire more nuts at him.

"Those are Mad Scrubs?" Impa called out to Link. "They are Deku Scrubs that attack anyone within range. They can't be reasoned with. They will continue to attack even after they have been forced out of their Deku Flowers."

Link grimaced as he chased after the Mad Scrub, causing more Deku Babas to emerge from the ground, along with more Mad Scrubs. He eventually caught up to the Mad Scrub and dispatched it with a single sword stab. He then turned around as he saw a volley of Deku Nuts fly past his head, missing him by mere inches. He raised his shield and deflected the next volley right back at the Mad Scrub. Once the Mad Scrub had been hit by his own attack, Link quickly pulled out his bow and notched an arrow to it. He then let fly with the arrow and took down the Mad Scrub, not wanting to engage it up close, fearing that it was seeking the cover of its allies.

Once the Mad Scrub had been dealt with, Link then went to work dealing with the Deku Babas and monstrous Deku Babas that were growing all throughout the village. It did not take him long to clear a path to a number of buildings that resembled tree houses. Link approached the nearest one and knocked on the door. However, as soon as he knocked on it, he heard a voice that was deep for a child shout, "Go away! Take shelter in someone else's home!"

The gruffness of the child's voice surprised Link. He had expected the Kokiri to be a little more open, though he could understand their apprehension given all of the enemies that were present in the area. Not only that, he was also a Hylian and Hylians were probably not all that popular right now given the actions of the Hyrulean royalty and its disdain for other races, particularly Humans.

Link then went to explore the village a little more closely. As he did so, Impa and Nabooru guided the rescued children as they followed him at a distance. Each of them had their weapons drawn and they were carefully making sure that they were not caught off guard by enemies. As Link explored more of the small village, he found more enemies in the forms of Deku Babas, Giant Deku Babas, Mad Scrubs, and erect Deku Babas. Link cut a swath through the enemies, with the enemies leaving behind either Rupees, Deku Nuts, or Deku Sticks. Link collected a couple of Deku Sticks since they would make good torches. Some of the children also collected some of the long, relatively thick Deku Sticks, seeing them as usable weapons in a pinch. Still, they hoped that all they would have to deal with would be the occasional Mad Scrub or Deku Baba, for they knew that the sticks would not be of much use against Hyrulean soldiers or the Knights of Hyrule. It was not long before most of the main path was clear of any enemies. This gave Link and the others time to explore the village more closely.

The group explored the village and knocked on the doors to a few more houses in order to see if they could gain sanctuary for the children and also try to glean any information as to what was happening to the village. Most of the houses remained closed to them with the inhabitants saying, "Present proof that you're not with Hyrule," or "if you're Hylian, you're no welcome here, not after the last time you came."

Link looked downcast at the ground. He remembered that the children that he had rescued from the slave ship while he had been onboard the _H.R.S. Hylia_ had been Hylian, or had looked Hylian. Given what he had seen and heard, chances were that those children had been Kokiri. He was now beginning to understand their apprehension a bit more.

Still, as he continued to explore, Nabooru had gone off to see if there were any uninhabited houses that could be used to provide temporary sanctuary. Impa had been guiding the children behind Link when Nabooru came running up to them, calling, "Everyone, I think I may have found someplace where we can hole up for a time."

This proclamation raised the spirits of the children and Link saw them genuinely smile for the first time in a while. "Where is it?" Impa asked, hopeful that Nabooru was right and there was a place of sanctuary not too far away.

"This way," came the Gerudo woman's answer as she waved for everyone to follow her.

The band quickly followed the Gerudo woman and she brought them to a house that was not too far away. There were a few normal sized Deku Babas present but Link quickly dealt with them. This house was a tree house similar in size and nature to the other houses that Link had encountered. However, outside of this house there was also a sign. Link went over to it and examined it. It read, _Link's House_. He was puzzled at the sign, for his house had been in Ordon Village, which was south of Faron Province, and by extension, Kokiri Forest. Link raised his eyebrows in curiosity as he looked at the sign and then at the house, which was remarkably similar in style to his own house in Ordon Village. Impa and Nabooru soon came over to see what had Link so puzzled. They quickly discovered the reason when they read the sign. The two then looked over at Link curiously. "This can't be your house, can it?" Nabooru asked.

Link shook his head. "No. I lived in Ordon Village." A thought then came to him. "Could this be the house of one of the Links from this time?"

Impa thought about it for a second. "Doubtful," she answered. "The older Link was born and raised in a house that was situated near Hyrule Castle. The younger Link was from a small village in Faron Province, but it was still outside of Kokiri Forest, which is situated deep within Faron Woods." She then seemed to remember something and then blurted, "But the Hero of Time Link _was_ living in Kokiri Forest before he went on his adventures."

"So this could be his house," Nabooru stated matter-of-factly.

Impa nodded.

"That's good enough for me," Nabooru concluded. "It's high enough up that it will be difficult for any of the enemies we've seen in the village so far to be able to climb up to get us and its height also makes it defensible." She did not like that it seemed to be leaning against a small wall that would make escape increasingly difficult, but that was a small issue compared with the many upsides to it. She then directed the children to climb the ladder to reach the house's entrance.

Each of the children climbed up the ladder and made their way into the small house. As the climbed, Link and the other adults watched the path leading to the house to make sure that they were not spotted, or that any new enemies did not show themselves. Once the last of the children had made it into the house, Impa went in, followed by Nabooru, and lastly, Link.

The interior of the house appeared to be furnished for a single person. There was a single bench, one bookcase, one bed, and one table. The table looked to be designed for three people and there were three chairs set at the table. In addition, there was also a fireplace, which already contained some wood and kindling so lighting a fire for cooking would not be too difficult. When the children saw the bed, they immediately began to argue with each other as to who would be sleeping in the bed and who would get the bench. The argument quickly came to an end when Impa whistled for them to keep it down. It was then silently decided that the oldest of the children, a boy with brown hair and blue eyes who looked to be ten years old, would get the bed, for the moment. The other children then went over to the bench or to the table and sat down to rest. As they went to rest, Link could hear their stomachs begin to growl, indicating that they were hungry.

"I'll go into the village and see if there is some food we can get for them," Nabooru offered.

Impa nodded and told her, "Be careful. Those enemies could come back. You should let Link go with you."

"I'll be fine," the Gerudo woman assured the Sheikah. "The children need more than one person present in case there is an unexpected visit from Hyrulean soldiers. Given the fact that there are so many hostile plants in the village, it's safe to say that the wards protecting the village have fallen."

Impa nodded, knowing that the Gerudo warrior was right. Besides, Nabooru was an accomplished fighter. She could take care of herself. Nabooru then departed the house and made her way throughout the village to see if there was a shop or some other place where she could find food for the group.

The hour that Nabooru was gone was relatively tense for both Impa and Link. They were concerned about the possibility of her running into trouble. The children, however, were more relaxed than they had ever been since Link had seen them. He was concerned that they would not be able to rest, but seeing them rest, even those that had to sleep on the floor, caused him to relax a bit. He soon decided that once Nabooru had returned, assuming she had been successful, that he would explore the village to find out what was going on, and if there was any way he could stop it and help return the village to normal.

After an hour, Nabooru returned with a large sack slung over her shoulder just behind her sheathed blades. As she entered, Link went over to help her with the sack. "Be careful should you go back out there," she warned them. "Those enemies come back after you kill them, and there are a lot of them spread throughout the forest."

Link nodded as he took hold of the sack. "For those of you wondering, I was successful, more than successful."

Link opened the sack and found some frozen meat, which he suspected to be squirrel meat or some other forest animal, possibly even deer meat. There were also some frozen vegetables and some bottles of water. Not only that, though, she also came back with a number of Deku Sticks, wooden shields, and some quivers of arrows. "There's a shop near a small valley that leads to a clearing. It has everything from food, to medicine, to weapons, even. I managed to get some medicine," she said, presenting a series of bottles with red and blue potions. Link noticed that he was down a Red Potion and asked Nabooru if he could have one of the Red Potions, getting the feeling that he would need the medicine for later in his quest.

"Sure," she answered, giving the potion to Link. "I also got us a supply weapons for dealing with any hostile wildlife or any enemy soldiers," she added, presenting the shields and quivers of arrows. "Arrows can make decent spears in a pinch and the shields should help against the enemies we've seen in the village so far. But enough about that. Let's eat. I'm famished!"

The children shot up at the mention of eating and huddled around Nabooru as she went to light the fire. To expedite the process, Link took out his lantern, went over to the fireplace, and it the fire. The kindling ignited and it only took a few more minutes for a good fire for cooking to get going. Nabooru and Impa then went to prepare some of the frozen meat the Gerudo had bought. They then went about cooking the meat.

As they were cooking the meat, Impa and Nabooru discussed their current situation with each other, saying that while they could remain in the house with the children for a while, that they would not be able to stay here indefinitely. Something would have to be done about the current situation since it would be suicide for them to try to make for Ordona Province. Link then went up to them and said, "I'm going to explore the village some more. There have to be answers to what's going on here somewhere."

"Be careful out there, Link," Nabooru cautioned. "There are a large number of those Deku Babas and Mad Scrubs out there. And there didn't seem to be a single person out and about. The shop, itself, had its doors closed. There are a few people inside but I didn't get much information out of them besides them saying that something must be wrong with the Great Deku Tree, which is obvious."

Link nodded, assuring them that he would be careful in his travels. He then turned and departed the tree house, making his way down the ladder.

Link wandered around the village, keeping his sword and shield at the ready as he cut down any Deku Babas and Mad Scrubs that accosted him. The enemies were no match for him and he dispatched them with ease. Still, as he explored the village, he went over to any tree house that he came across and attempted to talk to the people inside, knocking on their doors, clearing out any Deku Babas or Mad Scrubs that were close to said houses. However, his acts of charity were unrequited as the inhabitants of the houses. They refused to talk to him and kept their doors locked. Despite his best efforts, they would not open their doors to him, or even talk to him through the door. He could sense that they were scared of him despite the fact that he had been fighting Mad Scrubs and Deku Babas. However, he suspected that there was something more to it. They had appeared to be scared of Nabooru and Impa, but he remembered that they were Gerudo and Sheikah respectively. Gerudos were known pirates in this time and Sheikahs were likely servants of Hyrulean royalty.

Eventually, he had made his way across the village, having explored a training ground and having encountered the house of Mido, the boss of the Kokiri, if the sign to his house was accurate. When he had tried to talk to Mido, the boss of the Kokiri had not been willing to talk to him. Eventually, he made his way over to the other end of the village. There, he found two buildings, each on a different side of a pond. One of them was labeled as the Kokiri Shop. He suspected that this was where Nabooru had gotten her supplies. He crossed a stream and made his way into the shop.

Inside the shop were a counter and an alcove. There was what looked to be a Hylian child behind the counter who constantly seemed to jump up to see over the relatively high counter. Link suspected that the child was a Kokiri. There was also a Kokiri girl standing near the counter. When Link entered the shop, both Kokiri turned to face him and gasped at the sight of him. The girl attempted to retreat but quickly bumped back into the counter. "No," she cried. "Please, don't hurt me!"

"What are you talking about?" Link asked, trying to calm the girl. "I'm here to find out what's going on? I came here hoping to find sanctuary for some refugee children, but from what I can gather, the wards protecting the Forest Haven had fallen."

"You can say that again," the Kokiri boy from behind the counter said darkly. "The prince came here and cast a curse on the Great Deku Tree since the tree would not submit to him. He's done that, or tried to do the same, to other races, too. No one has the strength or will to do anything to stop him, not that anyone can. He's just too powerful."

"Do you know anyone who may know more about what is happening, and possibly how to stop it?" Link asked.

Both Kokiri shook their heads, but Link could tell that they were lying. They still eyed him suspiciously and the boy looked to be reaching for some sort of weapon, likely an arrow or a Deku Stick. Seeing that he would not find out anything else here, he decided that it was time to leave. He then turned and departed the store. As he did so, he heard the Kokiri girl ask the shopkeeper, "Could he actually have been a different Link from the one that fell?"

Link's eyes went wide as he heard the girl's question. He did not stay to hear the boy's answer, for he was still curious as to what the girl meant by the fact that the Link of this time fell. Had he been killed? Had he turned evil? Questions were swirling through his mind. One thing, though, is that this Link's fall could explain why so many people were still submitting to Hyrule's rule, even though Hyrulean royalty was evil. If Link had been killed, then Hyrulean royalty would likely have seemed to be unstoppable. If he had fallen to the dark side and turned evil, though, that would be far worse for morale. During his adventuring after the Invasion of Twilight, he had learned about the legends of Zelda and the Links that were connected with the various Zeldas of the past. He knew that he was a part of a legacy, a line of heroes that had saved Hyrule time and time again. Now, it seemed as if it was him against the world once more. Seeing little other choice, he went over to the tree house across the stream and hoped that the Kokiri inside would be willing to talk to him so he could get to the bottom of what was going on in the village.

He went over and saw large patches of grass outside the house. There was also a sign outside that read _Saria's House_. He then went up to the house and knocked on its door. At first, there was no answer. He then knocked on the door again and asked, "Hello, is anyone here? I'm new here and I mean you no harm."

He soon got a response. "Who are you?"

"My name is Link," Link answered. "I'm from Ordon Village, outside of Hyrule, I think."

He then shrugged, the answer not coming out as he intended. However, much to his surprise, the door soon opened. Standing in front of him was a ten year old Kokiri girl with green hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt underneath a lighter green dress that was cut several inches above the knees. She also wore green boots. At first, she gasped at the sight of Link and took a few steps backwards, but after a second, she stopped and cautiously stepped forward once more, appraising him. Link made no moves one way or the other. Eventually, the girl broke the silence. "You say your name is Link?"

Link nodded.

"That's not a good name to be known by right now," the girl stated plainly.

"What do you mean?"

"There were two Links not too long ago," the girl explained. "One stayed good while the other fell to evil. News of Link's return has caused many to become concerned. Some say that he will destroy the rebels once and for all, while others state that he is actually fighting against the Royal Family."

"I can assure you it's the latter," Link said, hoping to gain the girl's confidence.

The girl looked deep into his eyes and then gave him a smile. "I believe you." She then extended her hand, which Link took and they shook. "My name is Saria, as the sign on my house says. Come in and we can talk."

"Thank you," Link said, accepting the girl's offer and entering her house.

Once they were inside, Link looked around the house. There were a series of benches, along with a bed in the corner. Saria motioned for Link to sit on one of them. Despite her apparent age, there was an air of wisdom about Saria that made her seem much older than she appeared, much like the girl that had served the Sages in the Temple of Light, though Saria did not seem to exude as much power from her.

Once Link sat down, Saria did so as well and she was the first to talk. "So, what brings you to Forest Haven if you're not allied with the Kingdom of Hyrule? We haven't got many people coming here since the Great Deku Tree's health started to fail."

"I came here seeking sanctuary for refugees," Link answered. "I had heard that the Forest Haven was a place of sanctuary for those fleeing the forces of Hyrule. Some rebels and I rescued some children that were being taken to the castle to become slaves for the nobles and possibly the prince, himself."

"It was once, long ago," Saria said wistfully. "However, ever since the Great Deku Tree became ill and started to fail, the magic that wards away those with evil intentions has started to weaken. Just a couple of days ago, a slave ship came and kidnapped a group of Kokiri, planning to sell them to the nobles of Hyrule. They just barely managed to escape during a mutiny attempt by the pirate captain's second in command, but the pirate crew quickly gave chase. However, in a rare act of kindness, one of the large Hyrulean dreadnaughts stopped the slave ship and let the Kokiri's boat head back to the forest."

The gleam in Link's eyes indicated to Saria that he was the one that had convinced the ship to save the fleeing boat. "So that was you," she surmised. She already knew that she was right and Link's nod was not needed for confirmation. Saria then smiled.

Link, however, wanted to change the subject. "You said that the Great Deku Tree is ill. Do you have any idea what is causing the illness?"

"No," Saria answered, shaking her head. "And that's what worries me so much."

"Do you know where the Great Deku Tree is? If I can get to it, I might be able to help, or at least find out what is going on."

"That would be great!" Saria exclaimed excitedly. "None of us here are fighters. Mido may talk a big game, sometimes, but he's not the fighter that you appear to be. Come on. Follow me. The Great Deku Tree isn't that far away."

Saria then rose and made her way towards the exit, followed closely by Link. The two exited the house and she began to carefully make her way towards an alley off in the distance to her right. Link immediately drew his sword and shield, wanting to make sure that they were not caught off guard by any enemies. Link was able to spot a variety of Deku Flowers and knew that they housed either Deku Scrubs or Mad Scrubs. There were also Deku Babas present, which he dealt with easily. The Mad Scrubs were no more difficult for him to deal with, Link simply raising his shield in order to deflect their nuts back at them, and finishing them off with single sword swipes.

They soon reached the alley with Saria saying, the Great Deku Tree is through that valley. I'll take you to it."

"Wait," Link cautioned, shaking his head. "It's likely dangerous in there if you don't have a weapon. I'm going to have to be focusing on the tree, itself, so if you run into trouble there, I might not respond to it fast enough."

"Don't worry about me," Saria assured him. She then produced a Deku Stick. "If worse comes to worse, I can handle myself. Besides, I know the Great Deku Tree. It might not respond to you, but it will to me."

"Okay," Link answered as he led the way through the alley. About midway through the alley, three Deku Babas sprouted upright. These Deku Babas were not like the other Deku Babas in that they did not lunge at Link. They sprouted upright, as if they were Deku Babas that had been stunned. Still, their jaws were chomping at the bit to get at whoever was nearby. Their stems wiggled around but they still were more of an obstacle than a nuisance. Still, Link did not want to take any chances. With single slashes of his sword, the Deku Babas were cut down, leaving Deku Sticks in their wake. Saria collected the Deku Sticks and slung them over her shoulder.

After making their way past the Deku Babas, the two emerged into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood a massive tree with some bark-like structures that looked like a beard. The tree looked to have dark brown bark but when he looked up at the branches, some of them looked to be gray, almost as if they were dead or dying. Link then gazed around at the clearing. He could see plants like Deku Babas present on the perimeter of the clearing, but they seemed to be confined to their plants, so there was little risk of them being Bio Babas and coming towards Saria while he explored the tree's exterior. Still, upon noticing the Deku Babas there, he wondered if the problem was the Babas, themselves. Soon, Saria stepped forward and called out in a loud voice, "Great Deku Tree, I have come with a companion. His name is Link. He is a hero from Ordon Village, outside of the Kingdom of Hyrule. We have come to help you."

She then waited to see if the tree would give a response. Link was surprised to see her talking to the tree. However, he was not so surprised to hear the tree talk back in a deep voice. "Welcome Saria, and Hero of Twilight Link. There is much we need to discuss."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Link stood there as the Great Deku Tree welcomed him into the clearing. Had he not heard Saria talking to the Great Deku Tree, he would have been surprised to hear the voice coming out of the tree. However, now all he was looking for was from where the tree was speaking, for the tree did not seem to have a mouth, or if it did, it did not move. Link stepped forward and asked, "What do you wish to discuss with me?"

"I wish to know what has happened with you since your arrival here and to speak to you about the events that have led up to these dark times."

Link nodded and recounted his adventures from the Invasion of Twilight to the return of both Ganondorf and Demise. He then talked about how he had gone to the Twilight Realm and tried to help the Twili fight off a Magic Lord invasion. As he talked about that adventure, he heard Saria give a gasp. Looking at her, he saw her expression of surprise and almost disbelief. "The Magic Lords are a powerful species," the Great Deku Tree explained. "They went force on force against the gods and by the time they left, the battle was still in doubt with over half of the gods of Hyrule having been killed. Anyway, I digress," the Great Deku Tree stated. "Continue with your story.

Link did so and went on to explain his arrival in this new Hyrule and his meeting with Prince Daphnes, as well as the circumstances that led to the rescue of the Ordonian children and his arrival in the Forest Haven. Once he was finished, he got the sensation that the Great Deku Tree was eyeing him appraisingly, even though the tree did not seem to have any physical eyes. Eventually, the Great Deku Tree boomed, "You have demonstrated your courage and skill in combat many times over. You will need both, along with a good deal of power, if you are to complete the challenges ahead."

"What challenges may those be?" Link asked.

"We will talk about that later," the Great Deku Tree began. "First, there is much you need to know about the current situation. Much of the history that you know is probably wrong, or severely edited. They say that history is written by the winners, and King Nohansen and Prince Daphnes won the war with their wish. However, that is for a later time." Link then felt the gaze of the Great Deku Tree fall upon him heavily. Even Saria could feel that something was happening. "Evil pervades this climate that is greater than any that we have experienced save possibly for the War in the Heavens. This evil is so great and strong that it causes nightmares in those sensitive to it. Your half-Human nature makes you immune to these nightmares, but there are those who are not. I think I would be right in naming Saria as one who has had them."

Saria's eyes went wide with surprise. She then looked up at the Great Deku Tree and replied, "Yes. They are of the king and prince ruling Hyrule."

"The trafficking of the children you rescued, Link, is only the beginning of the horrors that have been unleashed upon the land by the king and prince," the Great Deku Tree continued. "There is much that you will learn soon. But first, I must tell you of my situation and why it is so fortunate that you have come here." The Great Deku Tree gave a heavy pause before continuing, "I have been cursed. It is the same type of curse that Ganondorf cast upon my parent before his first attempt to retrieve the Triforce, the attempt that the Hero of Time and the Princess of Destiny thwarted when they warned the King of Hyrule at that time of his treachery. That curse ended up killing the previous Great Deku Tree. However, it was Prince Daphnes that cast the curse that is afflicting me at this time. The curse is being held at bay, for the moment, but the Sage that is protecting me will not last long. Will you help me break this curse?"

"Of course," Link answered. He then drew his sword and shield.

"Then enter, brave hero," the Deku Tree directed as a portion of the tree's trunk opened in front of him like a mouth. Link proceeded to make his way forward, walking into the tree's mouth. Saria went to follow but the Deku Tree soon boomed, "No, Saria. You must remain out here. Your importance will lie in another area."

"But I can't just leave Link to…"

"Link is a hero and is experienced in fighting," the Great Deku Tree interjected. "As a Kokiri, you are not suited for combat just yet. You have magic, but you lack training in its combat application as of yet. Besides, the enemy knows the strengths of the Kokiri, and their weaknesses. The same cannot be said about its knowledge of Link. This is his fight. He must be the one to break the curse."

"Understood," Saria answered, bowing and then sitting down on the ground, waiting for Link to emerge from the tree victorious.

Inside the Great Deku Tree, Link carefully walked down a short wooden corridor and soon emerged into the central hub of the tree. He looked around and saw what looked to be a large spider web in front of him. The web covered a large hole that obviously led to the tree's roots. Turning his attention to the walls, he found vines growing along some of them. Looking up, he found several ledges above him, along with wooden planks that extended from them. Not only that, but a massive spider web seemed to form a ring around the area separating the ledge from the center of the tree. Along these webs, Link made out the shapes of large spiders. At first, he believed them to be Skulltulas, but instead of looking their normal red and black with a large abdomen, they had what looked to be skulls on their backs. Looking along the ledges and walls he found more spiders. These were larger then normal spiders, but not as large as the Skulltulas that he saw. These spiders had what looked to be golden skulls on their backs. There was something special about these spiders and he made note of their locations. Focusing back on the web in the center of the chamber he figured that there was no way that the golden spiders that he saw along the walls would be large enough to weave a web with such thick strands. Even the big Skulltulas were not large enough to weave this type of web.

Scanning the ground floor, he soon found a set of vines that would lead him up to the first ledge. Making his way over to the vines, he had to pass close to a Deku Baba. As he neared it, he waited for it to sprout and then lunge at him. As soon as it lunged, he sidestepped it and then slashed at its bulb. The slash stunned it and caused it to stand erect. Link then cut the stem and the bulb came crashing to the ground and died. All that was left behind was a Deku Stick. Even though he had a lantern and a full bottle of lantern oil, he decided that it would be a good idea to collect a supply of Deku Sticks since he could use them to transfer flames from torches if one torch was already lit and it could allow him to save his oil for later use. He then went around the rest of the ground floor and scoured the floor clean of Deku Babas, collecting the Deku Sticks they left lying on the ground upon their defeat. Once that was finished, he went over to the vines and climbed them to reach the top of the first ledge.

He made his way across the ledge, which had what looked to be stones blocks on the path and eventually came to an end with a wooden ledge jutting out from the wall. There was a large wooden chest on the ledge. Jumping over to the ledge he went over to the chest and opened it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a map to the tree. He quickly found the entrance to the tree marked on the map and found other points of interest marked on it, as well as the various floors in the tree.

After gaining the map, he took a moment to examine the tree from this location. He could see that despite the webs hanging from the ceiling and making their way down to the second floor of the tree, the tree did not appear to be in that bad a shape. The wood still looked brown, and not an unhealthy brown that he would have expected if the tree were on its last legs. Still, there were parts of the tree that did not look so good. He quickly noticed that these parts seemed to emanate from the golden spiders, as if they were the ones that were sapping the tree of life.

He quickly continued on his way, jumping to another ledge and following it until it came to a dead end. To his left, though, was a door. Once he came to the door, he opened it and went on in. As he entered the room, the door closed and metal bars came crashing down over the door, locking him inside. Inside the room, he found himself facing down a Deku Scrub. This Deku Scrub was not like the Mad Scrubs that he had faced inside of Kokiri Forest. This one seemed to have a more spring-like complexion. It emerged from its plant and spat out a single Deku Nut at Link. The hero raised his shield and intercepted the attack, the nut bouncing off of the shield and flying straight back at the Deku Scrub. The nut struck the Deku Scrub squarely in the face and the Scrub quickly jumped from its flower and began hopping about the room, giving short cries as it hopped. Link was not about to let the Deku Scrub escape, though, and he quickly chased down the plant-like enemy, holding his sword high. When he was in range, he swiped it downward. He was about to strike when the Deku Scrub gave a loud shriek, "Wait!"

Link stayed his hand at the sound of the shriek and glared at the enemy. Still, he was ready to strike if this turned out to be a trick. "Please, don't kill me," the Deku Scrub pleaded.

Link's scowl did not disappear. The Deku Scrub began to look terrified as Link tightened his grip on his blade.

"If you spare me, I'll tell you a secret about this dungeon," the Scrub offered.

That statement got Link's attention and he no longer scowled at the Scrub, though he still looked at the enemy with apprehension. He still had his shield at the ready, but he also lowered his sword, waiting for the Scrub to speak again, which he did. "There is a secret about the curse of the spiders that are attacking this tree. Inside this tree are thirty spiders with golden skulls on their backs called Gold Skulltulas. They are part of the curse. If you kill all thirty of them and collect their tokens, you'll significantly weaken the curse and be able to completely neutralize it if you kill the source of the curse." The Scrub then paused before quivering and asking, "Do you think this makes me a traitor?"

The Deku Scrub then scampered off and the bars rose once more. Link thought about what the Deku Scrub had said and he quickly took note of all of the Gold Skulltulas that he had found inside the tree when he had entered. There were thirty spiders that he would have to kill; and not only kill, but also claim their tokens. He suspected that that would not be too much of a problem, but he would have to scour every bit of this tree to find all of the spiders. He went over to the next door and went through it to enter the next room.

In the next room, he found a large chest off in the distance, across a lower floor. He suspected that it held something of importance, but he was not too concerned with that at the moment. He was more concerned with the two Gold Skulltulas that were behind the chest. There were no enemies on the floor that he could see, but he was still going to be careful. He scanned the wall that led up to the ledge with the chest and found two sets of vines that would lead him to the chest. Still, he felt that it would be easier to use his Clawshot to get to the chest. Pulling it out, he fired it and the claw reached out from the launcher and grabbed hold of the chest. The chain pulled Link across the floor and to the chest. Before opening the chest, he took out his sword and dispatched each Gold Skulltula with a single swipe of his sword. After each Skulltula was killed and their bodies erupted into an unnatural blue flame, all that was left was glowing golden skull token. Link quickly grabbed each token a message appeared in his mind, _You have killed a spider of the curse. This is a token proving that you have slain the spider. Kill all thirty spiders of the curse to weaken the curse so that it will break when its source is destroyed_.

With the spiders dead he looked at his map and saw a number appear on it. He noticed that he saw the numbers _02/30_ with a Gold Skulltula token next to it. It indicated the number of Gold Skulltulas that he had killed. He figured that it would be a good resource for him for later in the dungeon. Still, he went over to the chest and went to see what was inside of it. He opened the chest and reached in. He took out a slingshot and almost frowned as he looked at it. It was not that different from the slingshot that he had on him at this very moment. He still stuck it in his belt, though, figuring that it could be a useful item for Saria or one of the children he had rescued from Hyrule Castle Island.

He then looked across and found that there was no ladder to get him back up to the ledge with the door. Looking at the ceiling above, though, he quickly found a set of vines, along with a ladder suspended among them. Taking out his slingshot, his original one, he fired a single bullet at the ladder, knocking it down from its perch and onto the floor below. Sure enough, it stood upright and provided a means to reach the ledge. He jumped down to the floor below and crossed the area to the ladder, climbed it, and then exited the room, but not before scanning it to make sure that he did not miss any Gold Skulltulas. Confident that he had gotten all of the Gold Skulltulas in the room, he departed the room and returned to the main hall.

Once he was back in the main hall, Link scoured the first floor for any signs of Gold Skulltulas. He found one skittering along the wall close to where he had gotten the map of the Great Deku Tree. He found two more along the wall along the path, and three more on the ground floor, crawling along the wall just above each Deku Baba, which Link dispatched of once again in order to have a clear shot at obtaining each Skulltula. Once he had cleared the ground floor and the first floor of Gold Skulltulas, he returned to the door that led to the room where he had fought the Deku Scrub.

Once he arrived he found a large patch of ivy that led up to another ledge above him. This ledge appeared to be a wooden walkway that spanned the entire perimeter of the tree. Focusing on the ivy, though, he saw three strategically positioned skull-like spiders that looked like small Skulltulas, though they had simply been known as Skulltulas in this time. Knowing that he would not make his way up the ivy to the next level undetected, he took out his slingshot and drew a bead on each Skulltula. Then, with one shot per spider, he shot them off the vines, killing them. Each spider fell off of the vines and to the ground, where it erupted into an unnatural blue flame. Once it was safe to climb the vines, he grabbed hold of them and made his way up to the next ledge.

When he got up to the next ledge he moved to his right and then let go of the vines, dropping down onto a wooden walkway. Once he did so, he was ambushed by a Big Skulltula. This one had what looked to be a skull on its back and it appeared to be a form of armor. Since the spider had dropped down to face him, Link took out his sword and waited for the spider to make its move. It stared at him for a moment before turning around and exposing its soft underbelly. Link had to exert effort to keep his mouth from dropping open at the suicidal move the Big Skulltula had just made. Still, ever one to take advantage of an opponent's mistake, Link made one swipe with his sword and bisected the Big Skulltula, felling the beast.

Once he had taken care of the Big Skulltula, he looked around at the area. The walkway way formed a perimeter around the center of the tree. There also appeared to be thick wooden platforms that extended towards the center of the main area at certain points of the walkway. In addition, there was a spider web that surrounded the walkway except at those four areas where the platforms were jutting towards the center of the tree. Looking above the openings, though, Link spied the legs of what he suspected were versions of Skulltulas that he was more used to facing. Still, as he looked around, he noticed a number of Gold Skulltulas skittering on the walls in this area. They looked to be located on the walls opposite the logs that led to the center of the floor. Deciding to get the Gold Skulltulas before going through the only door on the level, Link went to each log and shot down each Skulltula with a shot from his slingshot, one bullet being enough for each Gold Skulltula. He then used his Clawshot to retrieve each token. Once that was finished, Link proceeded to make his way towards the door to the west.

Upon going through the door, he heard bars slam into the ground as the door closed behind him. He found himself on a ledge overlooking a floor and a ledge on the other side of the room. Looking across, he found a large treasure chest on the ledge on the other side of the lower floor, along with two Gold Skulltulas. He also spied a small alcove to the left that was easy to miss. Turning to either side of him, he found two torches. The one on his right was lit while the one on his left was unlit. On the floor next to the lit torch was a switch. He stepped on it and the grassy areas rose to form platforms that would allow him to cross over to the chest. As soon as he stepped on it, he heard the sounds of a clock ticking. This told him that he had a limited time to cross the platforms and get the treasure and come back.

He crossed the platforms, jumping from one to the other until he made it to the other side. Once he was there, he made certain to kill the two Gold Skulltulas that were on either side of the treasure chest and grab their tokens. Hearing the ticking accelerate, he quickly rushed across the platforms once more to make sure that he made it back safely, for there was no ladder that would take him back up to either ledge. He made it back across and quickly stepped on the switch once more so he could cross the platform again. On his next trip across, he went over to the treasure chest and opened it, hoping to find an important item. When he reached in, he pulled out a compass. Not wasting time on the ledge, he crossed the platforms again in order to get back to the switch. He could study the compass once he was on safe ground. Once he arrived near the switch, he took out the compass and looked at it along with the map. When he looked on the map, he suddenly saw a yellow mark indicating his location that moved as he moved, as well as a red mark indicating the point where he had entered the room he was currently in. This would be incredibly useful for navigating complex dungeons, though he did not know how useful it would be to him at this time since he was not really having any difficulty navigating the Great Deku Tree.

Once he was ready for his final trip across the platforms, he stepped on the switch once more. The platforms rose from the ground and he quickly made his way across them, heading towards the alcove. The alcove was plain and the only feature in it was the Gold Skulltula, which was skittering along the wall at waist-level. Wasting no time, Link cut the spider in half and waited for the flames to burn the body away and leave the glowing token. Once the body was gone and the token was there, Link grabbed it and then rushed back across the platforms and to the safety of the ledge. Now, all he had to do was figure out how he would escape the room since bars covered the exit.

Looking over at the lit torch and then at the unlit torch, he figured that the key to leaving the room would be to light the unlit torch. However, he suspected that simply lighting the unlit torch with his lantern would not be sufficient to grant him access to the door. That was when he was the most thankful for having gathered some Deku Sticks. Taking out one of the longer sticks, he went over to the lit torch and lit his stick. Once it was lit, he carried it over to the unlit torch and used it to light the torch. As soon as the torch sprang to life, he heard a chime and the bars over the door rose, granting him an exit. He then went through the door and returned to the main hall.

When he entered the main hall, he turned to his left and followed the walkway until he arrived at an opening in the web that led to a wooden ledge that extended over the center of the room. As he approached, he saw a shadow on the ledge and drew his sword, suspecting that he would soon be facing off against a Big Skulltula. Sure enough, the large spider soon came down and turned to face Link, its armored back facing the hero. After a second, just as the previous one had, the spider turned and exposed its soft underbelly, prompting Link to finish it off with a thrust. The sword pierced the spider's underbelly and killed it. The Skulltula's body erupted into an unnatural blue flame.

Once the spider's body had vanished, Link looked down the large spider web below. It would be a long fall, but he knew that if he jumped onto the web from this height he would likely be able to breach it if he landed in the center of the web. Still, he took out one of his Clawshots and hoped that there would be vines along the wall beneath the spider web that the claws could attach to if the floor beneath the hole was solid. Then, taking a deep breath, Link jumped off of the ledge.

He fell all the way down to the first floor and hit the spider web right in the middle, just as he had intended. The web stretched and buckled underneath Link's weight and momentum. For a second, though, there was a question as to whether or not it would give way. Eventually, though, the web gave way and it tore, causing Link to fall into the hole. Looking down, though, Link could see that he would land in water. Putting his Clawshot away, he brought his arms in and crossed them as he landed in the water, falling a few feet in before his fall was stopped and he swam back to the water's surface.

As soon as he surfaced, he looked around as he treaded water and saw two ledges that he could go up to dry land on his left and right. Swimming towards the lower ledge, he soon found his footing in shallower water. As he jumped onto the smaller ledge, he looked over to a door that was blocked by a spider web. Looking back to the higher ledge, he saw an unlit torch and a web that seemed to block a Gold Skulltula. Hearing the skittering of more Skulltulas, he looked up on the wall of the hole and found that there were two Gold Skulltulas on the ivy.

The first thing Link did was to ready his Clawshot and target the lower Gold Skulltula. Firing it, he scored a direct hit on the golden backed spider and destroyed it. Once the body burned away, he fired his Clawshot again to claim the glowing gold token. Taking aim at the higher Gold Skulltula, he repeated the process and claimed a second token. He then looked over at the higher ledge and found that there was a path that led to the ledge just below the water's surface, and shallow enough for him to walk on. Following the short path, he jumped up to the ledge and looked over at a third area that was across the water. Spying the switch near the ledge's edge, he stepped on it. Immediately, the torch sprang to life and burned away the web protecting the Gold Skulltula near a set of wooden bars, and an inaccessible area of the dungeon. He promptly killed the spider and gathered its token. Looking at his map, he found that he only had killed eighteen Gold Skulltulas. He only had twelve more to go. Looking across the water to the ledge on the other side, he saw no way to cross it, though he made note of a web covering what looked to be a hole, as well as a block and a trail that led into the water.

He then turned his attention back to the other web on the lower ledge. Wondering if the flames created by the torch were special, he decided that he would not take any chances and took out a Deku Stick. He lit the end of the Deku Stick and carried it over to the web and touched the web with his stick. The web immediately ignited and he quickly backed away and put his stick away as he waited for the web to burn away completely. After a second, all that was left were ashes and strands of the webs that were infesting the rest of the floor. Still, the way to the door was now open. He then went through the door and into the next section of the dungeon.

Upon entering the next room, he found himself staring into the face of another Deku Scrub, who had emerged from his plant right as the hero had entered. Link suppressed the urge to shrug as he took out his shield and raised it just as the Deku Scrub fired a Deku Nut at him. The nut bounced off of Link's Hylian Shield and was reflected right back at the firing Scrub. The nut struck the Scrub and, just as with the last one, it jumped from the plant and hopped around the floor, issuing cries with each hop. Link drew out his sword and rushed up to the hopping Deku Scrub and prepared to make a final strike when the Deku Scrub issued a cry of, "Wait!"

Link stayed his hand and almost gave a smile. He had expected the Deku Scrub to beg for his life and had hoped that the Scrub would part with some useful information. "Please forgive me, master! I'll never do it again!" the Deku Scrub pleaded. "If you spare me, I'll teach you something cool."

"What is it?" Link asked, indicating that he was having trouble believing the Scrub.

"You'll never defeat my brothers that reside just outside of Queen Gohma's lair unless you beat them in the proper order. The order is two…three…one. Twenty-three is number one. Oh Queenie, I'm sorry."

The Deku Scrub then hopped away and retreated as Link studied the room. He quickly found the exit but there were bars over the door, barring his exit. He quickly noticed a metallic eye-like switch situated just above the door. He would trigger it later, though. He heard the skittering of Skulltulas in the room and quickly found three Gold Skulltulas along the wall. He then picked them off one by one and collected their tokens. Once that was finished, he returned his attention to the silver eye switch above the door. He had seen these types of switches before and knew immediately what to do. Not wanting to use any arrows just to open his way to the next room, he drew his slingshot and placed a seed inside its pocket. He then pulled back on the sling and let it go, firing the seed at the eye. The seed struck the switch and the eye closed as a chime sounded. The bars that were covering the door immediately retracted and Link was free to enter the next room.

When he entered the next room, he was greeted by a water filled room with a green floating platform that floated along the water. He quickly spied a Gold Skulltula near a water gate on the north wall. Using his Clawshot, he killed the Gold Skulltula and collected its token. With that accomplished, and the fact that he did not see any more Skulltulas on this side of the room, he focused on how to cross to the ledge on the other side. It was obvious that he would need to use the floating platform, for the ledge was too high for him to pull himself up onto from the water.

He encountered a snag when he focused on the rolling spiked bar in the middle of the room. It was too large for him to simply jump or flip over and he also would not be able to duck underneath it. What was worse was the fact that there appeared to be no switch on the floor for him to either raise the bar, or possibly lower the water level. That left only one option. The switch had to be underwater somewhere. Looking beneath the water's surface, he quickly spied the switch. He quickly jumped into the water and swam over to the switch in the center of the room to his left. Once he was over the switch, he dove into the water and touched it. He did not have to press hard in order to trigger the switch. As soon as he triggered it, he heard the sound of water rushing out of the room as the water level lowered by several feet. As soon as it activated, though, he heard a ticking sound that indicated that there was a time limit.

Wasting no time, he swam back to the east ledge and pulled himself back up onto it. He then waited for the platform to float over to him. Once it arrived, he jumped onto it and let it carry him across the water to the western ledge. Once he was within jumping distance of the ledge, he jumped over to it. There, he was accosted by a Big Skulltula. The spider came down from the ceiling and faced him, showing him its armored back. Link merely waited for it to turn and expose its soft underbelly and when it did, the hero finished off the spider with a single thrust of his sword. With the spider finished, he looked over to the north and south walls and spied two more Gold Skulltulas. Taking out his Clawshot, he destroyed the spiders and retrieved their tokens. Checking his map, he found that he only had six spiders left to kill

Once he was finished collecting tokens, he searched for the exit, quickly finding it in a high alcove that he could not jump to. However, he did manage to find a large stone block that he could use to get up to the exit. He proceeded to push the block until it was situated just beneath the alcove. Once it was properly placed, Link jumped up onto the block and then up to the exit and went to the next part of the dungeon.

The next room looked like a fairy straightforward torch lighting puzzle. There was a single lit torch along with two unlit torches and a single exit with bars over the door. The hero simply drew out a Deku Stick and lit it, carrying the flame over to the two unlit torches, lighting them in turn. As soon as each torch was lit, a chime sounded and the bars over the exit lifted. Before he left the room, though, the hero had heard the skittering of Gold Skulltulas. He quickly found them skittering along the walls and he killed them with his Clawshot and retrieved their tokens. He only had four more to collect. After he had collected the tokens, he went through the door and into the next room.

The next room looked to be fairly large with no real distinguishing features save for a torch in the northwest corner. However, as the hero was about to step out into the center of the room, he noticed some organic crumbs fall to the floor from the ceiling, prompting him to look up. When he did, he found three eggs on the ceiling. Given the fact that one of the Deku Scrubs he had encountered earlier had referred to the source of the curse, or what he thought was the source, as Queen Gohma, he suspected that the eggs were unhatched Gohmas. Not wanting to be embroiled in a fight, Link took out his bow and readied it, taking aim at the eggs. He then fired an arrow into each egg, one right after the other. The eggs practically disintegrated under the assault and left nothing behind except for pieces of shell, which fell to the floor below.

With the unhatched Gohmas having been taken care of, Link looked around the room and noticed a large spider web covering an opening at the east end of the room. He looked at the torch in the northwest corner of the room, though, and noticed a suspicious wall. It was darker and looked thin. He went up to the wall and took out his sword and tapped it. It sounded hollow, indicating that there was something behind it. He then took out a bomb, lit it, and placed it near the wall. He then backed away so that he would not get caught in the blast. The bomb exploded and the wall collapsed, revealing an alcove with a door that led to another room. Going up to the door, he pushed it open and entered the secret room.

The secret room that he entered was noticeably smaller than the previous room. It was poorly lit but it did not need great lighting for Link to hear the skittering of Skulltulas. In addition, it was lit well enough that it revealed that all four remaining Gold Skulltulas were present in this room. Link quickly drew out both Clawshots and fired at each of the golden backed spiders, destroying them. With the spiders destroyed, he collected their tokens. As soon as he collected the last of the tokens, he heard a message play through his mind, _The spiders of the curse have been destroyed. The curse has been weakened. All that remains now is to destroy the source of the curse_. Armed with that knowledge, Link made his way back into the previous room.

When he reentered the room with the Gohma eggs, he noticed that three more Gohma eggs had appeared on the ceiling. Wasting no time, he shot down the Gohma eggs with his bow and arrow and made his way over to the webbing that blocked the exit. Not wanting to waste any of his Deku Sticks on the webbing, he took out his lantern and opened it, allowing it to ignite the webbing. The webbing caught fire and Link backed away as it burned and revealed the path out of the room. The path consisted of a small hole that was barely large enough for him to crawl through. Still, he knelt down and found that he was able to fit into the hole. He then crawled through the hole and exited the room.

He emerged from the hole and found himself back into the half submerged room where he had ended up after breaking the spider web on the first floor of the Great Deku Tree. He saw the stone block sitting near a groove that led to the water but he also noticed the web built over what looked to be another hole just like the one above, only smaller. Not wanting to waste any time, he went over to the web with his lantern and set the web on fire. He backed off of the web until it burned away completely and put out his lantern, not wanting to burn through his oil. Once the web was burned away, Link jumped down into the hole.

He fell a long way until he landed in water, just as he had with the first hole he had jumped down. This time, though, the pool he had landed in was noticeably larger than the first area above. He could tell that he was deep beneath the tree and likely inside its root system. Not too far away was a shore with three Deku flowers. Suddenly, the "twenty-three is number one" statement from the Deku Scrub entered Link's mind and as he swam onto shore, he readied his shield. Immediately Deku Scrubs sprouted from all three Deku Flowers and began spitting nuts at him. Remembering what the traitorous Scrub had told him, he stood still and waited for the nuts to strike his shield, being careful to line it up so that the nuts would only strike the Deku Scrub in the middle of the formation. Sure enough, the nuts were reflected at the Scrub and when they hit, the Scrub jumped upon the impact and gave a series of cries as it remained standing upright, seemingly frozen with a bluish hue surrounding it. Link then turned to the third Scrub as it and the first scrub in the formation fired at him. He avoided the first Scrub's nut and reflected the third Scrub's nut back at it. Like the second Scrub, the third one jumped and was frozen with a bluish hue, issuing cries as it remained frozen. All that was left now was to deal with the final Deku Scrub. The final Deku Scrub, seemingly failing to learn from his defeated brethren, continued to fire at Link. Without having to worry about the other two Scrubs, this one was easy for Link to defeat. Once the reflected nut struck the first Deku Scrub, he jumped out of his flower and began hopping around just like the other defeated Deku Scrubs had. Link approached the Deku Scrub, sword in hand, and when he arrived, the Scrub looked at him and said, "Impossible. How did you learn our secret? Anyway, it won't matter. You will never defeat Queen Gohma."

With that, the Deku Scrub hopped away and the other two Deku Scrubs disappeared. All that were left were some hearts, which were used for recovering from minor injuries and fatigue. Even though Link was at full health, he still collected the hearts, not wanting them to go to waste and wanting to make sure that he was at full strength for when he faced off against Queen Gohma. Once he was ready, he went over to the large door that the Deku Scrubs had guarded. He pushed against the door and felt it give way as dust fell from its hinges. He then pushed it up and the door opened, allowing him access to Queen Gohma's chamber. He then promptly went inside.

As soon as he entered the chamber, the door slammed shut behind him and bars appeared over it. He was not surprised at all. He simply drew his sword and prepared himself as he cautiously walked out into the center of the plain room. There was no cover to speak of, which could both help him and hurt him, since the lack of cover also meant that Queen Gohma could not hide, either. Still, he had a feeling that this fact would end up hurting him more than the queen.

As he walked out into the center of the floor, he heard a loud rustling sound coming from the ceiling. He looked up and saw a massive spider, far larger than he was. It looked nothing like the Armogohma that he had faced during the Invasion of Twilight. This one looked like a Tektite only much larger and with a single eye in the center of its body and two horns coming out of its head.

As soon as Link made eye contact with the creature, it focused its own gaze upon the hero and quickly skittered across the ceiling until it was almost on top of Link. It then fell from the ceiling and crashed onto the floor, rearing back and screeching as it prepared to attack. Link wasted no time taking out a Deku Nut and tossing it directly at Queen Gohma. The nut struck the spider directly in the eye and it detonated, its flash blinding the spider, causing its eye to turn green. Link quickly drew his sword and slashed at the spider's eye. With his first slash he felt the blade bite into the spider's eye. Apparently, this was the spider's weak point. Little blood was drawn and only a small streak of a clear liquid leaked from the wound with the strike, but Link was not finished. He continuously slashed at the spider's eye and inflicted more damage with each slash.

After six slashes, Queen Gohma recovered enough from the Deku Nut that she was able to retreat from the hero. Link tried to rush after her but she was too fast. She crawled up the wall and returned to the ceiling. There, she looked for a safe area where she could launch a new attack. The hero carefully studied the spider's eye as it had returned to its normal yellowish orange color. He took out his bow and arrow and waited to see if there would be an opening for him to strike the spider.

Queen Gohma soon stopped moving for a bit and a sound that seemed to be a roar of some sort seemed to emanate from the spider. Just then, her eye turned red and Link saw this as an opportunity to strike. He notched an arrow to his bow and pulled back on the string. An appendage seemed to extend from Queen Gohma and Link promptly fired his arrow at Gohma's eye. The arrow scored a direct hit on the eye and the queen fell from the ceiling and came crashing to the ground several meters away from Link. The spider gave an awful cry of pain and surprise as the hero rushed over and continued to slash at her eye. Surprisingly, two more slashes were all that were needed to finish off the spider.

When the final slash was delivered the spider issued a bloodcurdling cry and reared back as clear liquid leaked and spewed from the slashed eye. Queen Gohma then fell to the ground and erupted into an unnatural blue flame. Bit by bit, the spider disintegrated and pieces of the spider fell off the main body. Limbs fell off until the entire spider and continued to burn along with the rest of the spider. Eventually, the entire spider was consumed by the flames and there was nothing left of Queen Gohma at all.

Once all traces of Queen Gohma had vanished, Link found himself alone in the chamber. At first, he thought that there would be a warp that would lead him out of the tree, but the portal did not appear. However, a bright golden light soon appeared from the ceiling and began to descend from the ceiling. Link kept his sword out and readied his Mirror Shield, anticipating that he may be facing another enemy. After a few moments, there was a brilliant flash of light that forced Link to look away and cover his eyes. The golden light vanished and in its place was the Sage of Light, Rauru.

Link opened his eyes when the flash had died down and he looked at the Sage and his eyes went wide with surprise as he saw the Sage standing before him. "Rauru!" Link called to the Sage.

Rauru looked over at Link and recoiled a bit at the sight of the hero. Link, seeing the Sage's reaction, realized that he still had his sword and shield out so he put them away and he walked over to the Sage, being careful not to run or walk too quickly. Rauru, however, was still defensive. "Who are you?" he demanded. After a second, he amended the question to, "Which Link are you?"

"I'm Link from Ordon Village," Link answered.

Rauru's eyes went wide. "You're _that_ Link; the one who had us reforge the Master Sword?"

Link nodded. "Then the gods must have sent you," the Sage said, rushing over to the hero. As he did so, though, he stumbled forward a bit, prompting Link to run to him and catch the Sage. "Sorry about that," Rauru apologized. Link looked at his face and could tell that something was wrong. Rauru looked sickly.

"What's wrong?" the hero asked.

Rauru sighed. "There was a curse that has been afflicting the Great Deku Tree, just like the curse that afflicted the tree's parent."

"I know," Link replied. "The Great Deku Tree told me about the curse when I came. He did not tell me that you were coming, though."

"That's because I was already inside trying to keep the curse at bay," Rauru answered. "And when that was no longer a viable solution, I took upon myself some of the curse in order to slow it down." Rauru then looked at Link and said, "Link, you have to get out of here and help the rest of Hyrule. If you have a Red Potion or a similar potion, use it to help the Great Deku Tree."

"But what about you?"

"Leave me. The Great Deku Tree is more important right now than I am," Rauru answered.

"But I have two Red Potions," Link interjected. He then took out one of the potions and gave it to Rauru, uncorking the bottle. "Take it," the hero insisted. "The way you were speaking indicated that one Red Potion would be sufficient to save the Great Deku Tree, right?"

Rauru nodded. "Now that the curse is broken, it will only need one potion."

"Then you take one potion while I give the other to the Great Deku Tree," Link told him. "That way, both of you will survive."

Rauru smiled and accepted the bottle as he drank the potion. Immediately upon drinking the potion, the color returned to the Sage's face and any and all lethargy left the Sage. He was fully rejuvenated and it was clear that he was now at perfect health. Once he was better, he went over to Link and said, "Come with me. We have to administer the other potion to the Great Deku Tree's root system."

Link followed Rauru to the end of the room, where a door appeared as soon as the Sage walked over to it. Rauru opened the door and ushered Link through. They emerged in a room where there were many root-like structures. The roots looked to be brown but there were a large number of gray patches on them, indicating that they were dying. "These are some of the roots to the Great Deku Tree," Rauru explained. "If we pour the Red Potion onto these roots, they will absorb the healing potion and spread its effects throughout the rest of the tree."

Link nodded and went over to the nearest root. He took out a bottle and uncorked it. He then poured the red liquid on the root. The liquid was immediately absorbed by the roots and the gray patches on the roots immediately vanished and turned brown once more. In fact, the whole root began to take on a much healthier hue, which began to spread to the rest of the roots in the room. Rauru smiled. "It's done Link. Now, let's get out of here. There is much that we need to discuss."

Just as Rauru had said those words, a pillar of light formed around the two of them and rose up to the ceiling. A high pitched sound soon emanated all around them as crystals of energy formed around the two of them. They then began to spin as the crystals formed and eventually, they rocketed up to the ceiling and vanished from the tree.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The pillar of light softly deposited Link outside the Great Deku Tree right next to Saria. As soon as he touched the ground, a golden light appeared next to him. The light gave off a brilliant flash and soon, the Sage of Light was standing beside Link as well. Saria had to suppress a yelp of surprise at the sighting of the Sage as he appeared. Once they were all there, Saria asked, "Were you successful?"

Link gave a smile and nodded in affirmation. He then took out the slingshot that he had found inside the tree and gave it to Saria. "What is this for?" she asked.

"Just in case you get into trouble," Link answered.

Saria accepted the slingshot, along with the Deku Seed pouch that Link handed over and she thanked him. The group soon heard a long, booming, "Ahhh," from the Great Deku Tree, prompting everyone to turn and face the tree.

"Thank you brave Link," the Great Deku Tree began. "Without your efforts, the curse would never have been broken."

"Are you alright? We were not too late, were we?" Link asked with concern.

"Put your mind at ease, hero; I am fine," the Great Deku Tree assured him. "The Red Potion you gave me is already coursing through my roots, as well as the rest of me. Without that potion, though, I would have been doomed, just as my ancestor had been."

"That curse was similar to the one that was placed on the previous Great Deku Tree by Ganondorf, wasn't it?" Rauru asked. His question caused Saria to study him intently.

"Indeed it was," the Great Deku Tree answered. "Though there were more safeguards and the curse was split between Gohma and the Gold Skulltulas."

"But how?" Rauru wondered out loud, looking at the ground. "Daphnes isn't related to Ganondorf and the curse was virtually identical in its purpose and how it was carried out."

"Very true," the Great Deku Tree answered.

"Hold on," Link interrupted. "Does this mean that Ganondorf is still alive?"

"No," the Great Deku Tree answered. "You defeated the original Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm. However, that Ganondorf had a child with the Gerudo thief known as Aveil."

"Aveil fled the Gerudo lands after you destroyed the fortress and killed many of her supporters," Rauru added. "However, as the Great Deku Tree stated, she had a child with Ganondorf, who she named, Ganondorf. Their child was a male but since she had been expelled, he was not able to take over the Gerudos. Eventually, Ganondorf's son married a Gerudo woman and had a child of his own. He, of course, told his daughter about her purpose and that she had to wait for a son to be born. It could take another generation or two, but when that occurred, her purpose was to make sure that the male born was of her line. And, indeed, and it was from that line that another male was eventually born.

"As with the original Ganondorf and his son, this child also bore the name of his ancestor. As with his ancestor, he was also skilled with magic. With his mother whispering about his ancestor in his ear, he was quick to desire power, and his position allowed him to do much. However, the Gerudos did not want to make the same mistake they had made with the original Ganondorf, so they had separated themselves from the rest of Hyrule, though they were still on friendly terms with them. Also, since the Master Sword was no longer the key to the Sacred Realm, and the key to it was kept secret, there was no way for him to get the Triforce. However, there was another source of great power that he was able to acquire, the Trident of Power. However, it was not as powerful as a piece of the Triforce and Ganondorf, who became Ganon upon acquiring the Trident, was defeated by a Link, who had used the Four Sword to split into four different Links, and the Princess Zelda of that time and seal Ganon into the Four Sword. However, he would not remain there forever.

"He eventually broke out of the Four Sword and terrorized Hyrule once more. When he broke out, though, there were two Links, one older, one younger. The older Link was a veteran of many battles and had been known as a great hero. The younger Link wanted to be just like the older Link. They fought Ganondorf, but the older Link, who was the better fighter, was unable to pull the Master Sword for whatever reason. Some speculate that when it was reforged, it was imprinted onto you, thus you would be the only one to ever be able to pull it. Anyway, in the fighting, Ganondorf managed to kill Princess Zelda. This devastated the older Link and he delved into forbidden magic in order to find a way to revive her. We Sages warned him against using such magic, but he could not let it go since he blamed himself for getting her killed. He took all the necessary safeguards and had King Nohansen's help in performing the ritual, which required him to either kill or simply make Ganon bleed. He succeeded when the younger Link was successful in pulling the Master Sword and caused the monster to bleed, allowing the ritual to revive Zelda. However, it was then that we Sages, among others, noticed King Nohansen, as well as his son, Prince Daphnes, acting strangely."

Link scowled at the mention of Prince Daphnes. "I take it you know of the Prince's, how shall we say, perverted tendencies?"

Link nodded. "I rescued a group of children from being taken to the castle to become personal servants. I could read between the lines as to what their duties would have been."

Rauru gave a sigh. "You have no idea just how far Hyrule has really fallen," he said crestfallenly. "Anyway, back to the story. After we started noticing the king and prince act strangely, we decided to see what was happening. King Daphnes already knew that we did not approve of the older Link's actions in reviving Zelda. I could understand his anger and resentment, but we were concerned that Zelda did not come back properly."

"What do you mean by 'come back properly'?" Link asked.

"Spells like reviving a person who has died are notoriously fickle and unreliable," the Sage of Light explained. "You may bring someone back in body, but not in spirit. As the Sage of Light, I can see multiple timelines inside the Temple of Light on the Wall of Time. In it, various timelines are tracked, multiple possibilities, some of which are not present in a timeline because of an act that has already occurred. For example, there is a series of events that would have taken place had the Hero of Time been killed at any point of his journey in the future. The future he returned to the past from has its own series of events, though sadly, our current timeline seems to be mirroring the Hero of Time Adult Timeline more closely with the flooding of Hyrule. But I digress. Anyway, many of us began to worry that Zelda had not been brought back properly."

"Was she?"

Rauru shook his head in the negative. "She was not. She had turned hostile towards the people of Hyrule, lording her rank over them. Though the people were not much better. Many did not support the older Link in his efforts to restore Zelda. Many also blamed him for Zelda's death, saying that other Links had managed to save Zelda, that he had even managed to do so before on occasion. The people of Hyrule, themselves, or rather the Hylians, had fallen just as Zelda had. The Gorons, Zoras, and Humans (rounded eared humans, that is) were still good for the most part, though they were growing concerned with how the Hylians were acting and they, thus, isolated themselves from the rest of Hyrule. The Hylians, for the most part however, were selfish, decadent, disrespectful towards others, and only cared about themselves as individuals. The lives of others were of no concern of theirs. Some, however, were not like that and continued to be good people. They still did not agree with the older Link in his method for reviving Zelda, though, but that was because they shared the same concerns that we Sages did. The younger Link, I'll call him Young Link from now on, was also concerned. You see, magic like this does not only affect its target. It can also affect the caster. That is why such magic is forbidden for use, even by us Sages."

"So was Older Link affected?" Link asked.

"No one knows for sure," Rauru answered. "You see, King Nohansen and Prince Daphnes saw this as a golden opportunity to consolidate their power."

"Hold on," Link interrupted. "Before you continue, why didn't Link or King Nohansen just use the Triforce to revive Zelda? Shouldn't they have had access to it if they had the Spiritual Stones?"

"It wasn't quite that simple," Rauru answered. "The Gorons and Zoras were always wary of King Nohansen, having a feeling that there was something not right about him. They never voiced their concerns openly since all they had to go on was a feeling, mainly due to how he carried himself, but it definitely did not put their minds at ease. As such, they would not be willing to give their Spiritual Stones to the King of Hyrule without good reason. That may have been one of the reasons why the king began to crack down on the people.

"The people of Hyrule had long been gaining more freedoms and rights. You never noticed this because the leadership of Hyrule had always been wise, noble, and good, but the king had a great deal of power. While it was not necessarily absolute, it was incredibly rare for an edict by the king to be overruled by the nobles. Anyway, King Nohansen began to pass harsher measures and restrictions on the people, particularly weapons restrictions. Criminals, of course, took advantage of this and attacked the civilians, who were now defenseless, which only allowed Nohansen to pass even harsher measures in order to increase security, measures that had little actual success. While criminals and thieves, if caught, were punished harshly, anyone who defended themselves were also punished. And without any effective weapons, no one could resist the king and his armies. If King Nohansen's rule had not been absolute before, it was now. Still, he was not as bad as he later became. That came later.

"Later, Older Link wished to marry Princess Zelda. However, they were still young at the time, being no older than seventeen years of age. As was normal custom for noble marriage, Zelda and Link went to the Sages to request their blessing for the marriage. The Sages, though, refused, sensing that something was not right with Zelda, and that something may have happened to Link as well, almost certainly due to the revival spell that the hero had used to resurrect Princess Zelda."

"Were the Sages right?" Link asked.

"I don't know," Rauru answered. "When I scanned them, the results were inconclusive. Anyway, Link and Zelda did not take that well and tried to marry without the blessing of the Sages. The priest, however, refused since the Sages had not signed off on the marriage. This did not stop them from becoming lovers, though, or even from having children. Still, this was when things took a darker turn. Zelda was incensed that the Sages and the priests would not allow her to marry Link. When she eventually had her child, the child was seen as illegitimate and was viewed with disdain by some of the people. This only fueled Zelda's hatred, and hastened her fall. Some say that this was the straw that broke the camel's back for Nohansen and Daphnes as well, though those two, particularly Daphnes, had already shown signs of being evil some time before the Sages' refusal to allow Zelda and Link to marry. That was when the king passed numerous edicts basically turning everyone save for his loyal soldiers into slaves and second-class citizens at best. Life became harsh for everyone and he, Daphnes, and Zelda were quick to let them know that _they_ were the reason their lives were becoming so miserable. However, not all hope had been lost yet.

"Young Link still had the respect of the king, despite his disagreement with Link's actions. The child stated directly that his reasons for concern had been for both the older Link as well as Princess Zelda's safety and that spells like that were unreliable. His words had been those of caution, rather than scorn and both Nohansen and Zelda respected that, as did the older Link. He pleaded with the king to lift the restrictive measures and treat the people better. Nohansen, however, retorted with the fact that the people had treated Older Link horribly for letting Zelda die and that both he and Zelda were not being respected. That even through their association that _he_ was being viewed with scorn by the people. However, things were about to get worse.

"King Nohansen knew that the Sages did not approve of his actions, but he also had a feeling that he could assuage the issues with the Sages and the people. All he needed was the Triforce. He would use it, or rather, allow _Link_ to use it to wish for Zelda and himself to be fully healed and restored and undo any damage that may resulted from the ritual that he had used to resurrect her. This, of course, would be hindered by the fact that the Gorons and the Zoras would not part with their Spiritual Stones for the aforementioned reasons. The harsh measures that the king had passed, along with Daphnes beginning to take full advantage of the situation for his own benefit, did nothing to alleviate their concerns. They feared that the lure of the power of the Triforce would turn King Nohansen into a complete monster virtually identical to Ganondorf, if not even worse than the Gerudo King. They were also concerned with Link in that he, too, could be corrupted by the potential power of the Triforce if the ritual had damaged his mind or soul. Also, the fact that the link between Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf had been severed indicated that they, too, could fall to the lure of power.

"Link would not let their refusal stop him from being able to heal Zelda if worst came to worst, for he wanted their child to have a legitimate birth. As such, he went to take the Spiritual Stones. First, he went to the Great Deku Tree, but the tree sensed the seeds of darkness in Link's heart and refused to give him the Kokiri's Emerald. Prince Daphnes, however, came and assisted Link by casting a curse on the Great Deku Tree. The curse weakened the tree enough so that Link could enter and retrieve the Kokiri's Emerald. Despite the fact that Link did not agree with Daphnes' actions, he still did not fight the prince, seeing that he was able to get the stone. All he did was ask Daphnes to lift the curse. Daphnes did, at first, but he left the seeds of the curse inside so that they would take root and sprout, cursing the tree later on. You, however, managed to both break the curse and destroy its seeds, the Gold Skulltulas. Getting back to Link and the Spiritual Stones, Link proceeded to go to Death Mountain and Zora's Domain and claim the other two Spiritual Stones with minimal effort. Despite the fact that the Gorons and Zoras would not part with the stones willingly, they were unable to stop Link and Link had to use force to get the stones, though he drew the line at using deadly force, for the moment.

"After acquiring the Spiritual Stones, Link proceeded to take them to Zelda so they could open the way to the Sacred Realm so they could help Zelda if she really needed it. Along the way, Zelda gave birth to their child and Young Link was tasked with looking after the baby, who they named Zelda, giving her the nickname of Tetra. When they entered the Sacred Realm, they went to the Triforce and touched it. However, as they touched the relic when they made their wish, it seemed as if nothing happened." Rauru then gave a pause.

"Did anything actually happen without them realizing it?" Link asked.

"It does not look like it," Rauru answered glumly. "Back to the story, Link and Zelda were incensed that it seemed as if even the gods refused to help them. Many say that this is what drove King Nohansen over the edge. He cursed the gods, the Triforce, and their people. The people of Hyrule were already beginning to chafe under his rule, and Daphnes was not making things any better by basically raiding local stores and picking fights with children. There were also rumors that he…did things to other children, despite his own youth, and some say he even began killing some children when they would not play with him or let him win their games. With Daphnes misbehaving, and the Triforce seemingly refusing to help his daughter and Link, King Nohansen began scouring Hyrule and other lands for items that may be able to help him and his daughter. He found the Light Force, which while it did not heal Zelda, assuming she needed to be healed, did grant him and his family more power. Still, his search continued across the continent, and later the world. He also began to tighten his grip on the people, instituting a draft and even using pressgangs to press people into the service of the military.

"People in Hyrule were beginning to grow very concerned now. Those who had previously either been supportive or had not looked upon the king with scorn were beginning to have second thoughts. For others, it was worse and prompted some to take action. As such, the kingdom started to splinter. Ordona Province was the first province to secede from Hyrule. The king soon waged a war to bring Ordona back into Hyrule proper. However, the Ordonians were far stronger and advanced than anticipated. They were able to push back the occupation army and the struggle soon began to become drawn out. This caused other provinces to consider secession. Eventually, the Gorons and the Zoras both seceded from Hyrule as well, which forced King Nohansen to have to bring them back into the fold as well. However, that would force him to divide his army three ways, four if he wanted a defense force for the defense of Hyrule, proper. That was when he called upon Link to help him.

"Link, who was already angry at the Gorons and Zoras for making him have to steal the Spiritual Stones, relished this opportunity to help the only person who had supported his decision, and get revenge on two of the races he felt slighted him and Zelda. He fought against the armies of the Gorons and Zoras, helping the armies of Hyrule bring them to heel. However, there was another issue that was brewing. There was an outcry against the repressive measures and decrees that were being enacted by the king by the citizens of Hyrule. That outcry soon grew into a full rebellion. With Ordona having pushed back and destroyed the army that had gone to reassert Hyrule's control, Nohansen had to make a choice. He decided to focus on confronting the rebellion. He would deal with Ordona later. The problem with the rebellion was that the rebels had the support of the Light Spirits, as well as other guardian spirits. He would be facing beings that were second only to the gods in power, a daunting prospect for any force. He needed an edge in order to beat them, for even with the Light Force and the Spiritual Stones, he did not have enough power to beat the rebels _and_ the Light Spirits and guardian spirits without suffering tremendous losses, which would make Hyrule vulnerable to outside attack, assuming he had the power to win in the first place.

"He proceeded to go to the various temples and ask the Sages for their medallions. The Sages, of course, refused and, instead, took the rebels' side. Before it came to blows, though, the king had Link strongly request that they relinquish their medallions to him. Link did as Nohansen requested, but the Sages still refused, seeing Nohansen's hand behind Link. This resulted in a battle between the royalty of Hyrule and the Sages. Link, however, was still uncertain of his allegiances. In the end, Link was given a choice. The king showed him how far Hyrule was falling and said that only with his help, could it, and Zelda, be saved. With Zelda already being the Sage of Time, she was already strong enough to fight them, as were King Nohansen and Prince Daphnes. However, they were outnumbered by the Sages and needed Link's help if the Sages were to be beaten without loss, which the king said would end up greatly hurting Hyrule in the long run. In the end, Link sided with the royalty of Hyrule and fought the Sages, with three of them dying in the battle, while the others managed to escape with their lives, but were injured. Despite the survival of the other Sages, all of the medallions were taken, and their powers were transferred to the king and his loyal followers.

"Young Link, however, was beginning to grow very concerned about what was happening, particularly with the death of three of the Sages. The surviving Sages met up with him and managed to convince him to join their cause, knowing that the royal family was heading to the Temple of Time so they could get the Triforce. However, they needed him to clear out the temples of enemies so that they could reclaim their power and prevent the king and his army from calling in reinforcements. Young Link did as they bade and went to try to clear out the temples so that the king's soldiers would dwindle in number. Once this was finished, the rebels and the Sages joined their forces together in order to launch a final assault on Hyrule Castle Town and the Temple of Time in order to stop the Royal Family from getting the Triforce. They were too late, though, for Nohansen had already managed to touch the Triforce. However, something then happened that no one had expected.

"The Triforce broke into three pieces. King Nohansen only retained the Triforce of Power. The Triforce of Wisdom went to Princess Zelda's cousin, a young girl also named Zelda, while the Triforce of Courage went to Young Link. Zelda, the princess's cousin, quickly joined Young Link and the rebels in their efforts to free Hyrule. She hoped to do so without violence, though, and she went to plead with her uncle and cousins to end the fighting without any more bloodshed. Immediately upon meeting with her uncle, though, she was captured, and her Triforce piece was taken and given to the king's daughter Zelda. Then, it was up to Young Link and the rebels to save Hyrule.

"Young Link and the surviving Sages led the charge and the rebels made it through the gates and into Hyrule Castle Town. There, they were met by Prince Daphnes and his forces. The prince currently held the Light Force and was a powerful opponent. Still, he was not invincible to a Hero of Light who wielded the three spells of the gods, Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, and Nayru's Love. He fought bravely and managed to defeat Daphnes, forcing the older prince to retreat. Eventually, he met up with Link, the hero who he had practically worshipped, and Zelda. The two begged him to stop fighting them but he said that they were dishonoring themselves and their child by their actions, that they were becoming the very thing that they had fought against, and that Zelda had even given her life to stop. His words began to get through to them, but soon, the army attacked him and he was forced to defend himself with deadly force. Still, despite killing Hyrulean soldiers, Link and Zelda did not attack him, staying out of the fighting. That was when King Nohansen came to the battle and watched the boy fight. He appeared to be moved by Young Link's courage and purity, the boy only using deadly force when absolutely necessary.

"As the fighting was continuing, it was clear that the rebels were gaining the upper hand. There was no way that the forces of Hyrule would prevail. That was when the king went to talk to Young Link directly. However, Young Link was now dealing with a fully rejuvenated Prince Daphnes. When he appeared before Young Link, the boy and the prince turned to face him, for the Triforce mark on the back of his hand, was glowing. However, he did not aid Prince Daphnes in the fight. Instead, he told Young Link that he came not as an enemy, but as someone who wanted to end the fighting. He 'proved' his point by using the Triforce of Power to freeze Prince Daphnes inside of a magic stasis crystal. He then held up his hand and powered down the Triforce of Power. He told Young Link that many of the rebels were no better than Prince Daphnes and those that fought for him. He told the boy that he did not support Prince Daphnes' actions and excesses, but had not had the courage to deal with his son since Daphnes was part of his own family, his own flesh and blood. He had been hard on the kingdom out of grief and the fact that the people of the kingdom had become so weak and that the kingdom was now decrepit. He said that he had a way to save the kingdom of Hyrule, but that he would need the boy's help.

"He said that the only way to make sure that the Kingdom of Hyrule could be saved and thrive once more would be to wash away the old kingdom and replace it with a new one. He would do this by flooding the kingdom. In order to make sure that none of those who were good on either side of the fighting were killed in the flood, he would need the Triforce, the Master Sword, and the Light Force to be used in conjunction with each other. Only then, could he end the misery of Hyrule, by washing away the evil and sparing the good, who would be situated on the highest points of the kingdom, and thus, would be safe from the flood. Zelda came to assist her father when he called. Older Link also joined her. Once the group was together, they all took out their pieces of the Triforce and connected them together, forming the Triforce, itself.

"That was when the remaining Sages all broke through and attempted to interrupt King Nohansen's plan. They charged towards the Triforce intent on making a basic wish of their own, something small like wishing for a single Rupee or for a bottle of milk. Before they could make it to the Triforce, though, Zelda and Link intercepted them and began to fight them, leaving King Nohansen and Young Link to create the controlled flood that would wash away the evil while also sparing the good, or so the king insisted.

"While Link and Zelda held off me and the remaining Sages, Young Link and King Nohansen made their way towards the Pedestal of Time in order to carry out the plan. Young Link must have known that something was wrong, though, for he was hesitant to go forward with the plan, likely knowing that a lot of people would die. He then looked back at the king and asked who would be killed in the fighting. The king responded that 'only people such as murderers, rapists, thieves, and other violent criminals would die in the flood. Those who did not have evil intentions towards Hyrule or its people would be spared.' Young Link was still hesitant to go forward with the plan and when he was standing right near the pedestal, he drew the sword but stopped. He then stepped back, unable to consign thousands of people to their deaths, even if they were all evil. When the king asked Young Link why he was not acting, the boy replied, 'I can't kill thousands of people with this plan. If even one innocent is killed, it would be one too many. I won't take that chance. Too many people have already died in the fighting.'

"That was when King Nohansen showed his true nature. As Young Link was about to put down the Master Sword, the king went up to the boy from behind and grabbed his hand. He then pulled the boy's hand back so that he would cause Young Link to stab himself with the Master Sword, knowing that he could not touch the Master Sword since he, himself, was evil but also wanting to hopefully destroy the Master Sword by having it spill innocent blood. However, something happened that he did not intend. As he went to force Young Link's hand to stab himself, the sword dulled and the blade did not pierce the boy's skin. That was when Young Link turned and attacked. The Master Sword did, however, cut into King Nohansen's skin. That was when I realized that the Heaven's Light inside the Master Sword was a safeguard against it being used either by evil, or for evil by a 'worthy' user who was being blackmailed or tricked into it. The cut given to King Nohansen, though, was not fatal and a battle ensued.

"The battle was fierce, but the cut was not the only thing affecting the king. The evil-destroying properties of the blade were also causing the king no end of pain and interfered with his magical abilities. This allowed Young Link to fight evenly with him until he eventually gained the upper hand. King Nohansen was wounded by a cut to his leg and with his magical powers not working properly, he was at Young Link's mercy. Just as Young Link was about to finish off the king, Older Link came up from behind and stabbed him in the heart. Young Link would have been killed if he had not had a bottled fairy with him. The fairy revived him and he was then forced to fight the Older Link. The two fought but without the injury, Link had the upper hand against Young Link. That gave King Nohansen the opportunity he needed to get to the Triforce and make his wish. Still, due to his injuries, he was slow to reach the Triforce.

"Back to Young Link versus Link, the younger hero managed to hold his own against Link for a while. Despite the older Link having the same magical powers and arrows that Young Link had, Link underestimated his younger counterpart and was taken off guard when Young Link used magical medallions such as the Bombos Medallion. The power of the Master Sword also assisted Young Link. Still, Link was the stronger of the two physically and his skill with the sword was greater than the younger hero's. While Young Link put up a valiant fight, Link began to gain the upper hand. Still, the battle was not over yet. Both fighters were forced to use up their remaining bottled fairies and healing potions before the battle came to an end. Still, at the end, Link was in the position strength and it was clear that he would be the victor. The outcome was practically assured once Zelda and some nobles that had fought by her side had managed to kill the other Sages, save for me, and she went to join her lover in the battle against the younger hero. Her help would not be needed, though, and by the time she arrived, Link had stabbed Young Link in the torso. Withdrawing the blade, he let Young Link slump down to the ground to die. With Young Link dying, the duo had a clear path to the Triforce. As they looked at it, it seemed as if the effects of the ritual were clearly affecting them, for now all they seemed to want was the power that the Triforce contained.

"As they approached the Triforce to have their wish granted, it seemed as if all was lost. I was lying on the ground, wounded and unable to continue fighting. While their army was in shambles and the rebel army was pushing them back, they would not reach the Triforce in time to stop Link and Zelda. Just as they were about to touch the relic, though, a miracle happened. A woman clothed in shadow appeared in front of them wearing a helmet and surrounded by three relics. She intercepted them and began to fight them. For an instant, she seemed to recognize them, but that soon changed when Link revealed the power of his sword: the Four Sword. He split into four different copies of himself and began to fight the Dark Woman with Zelda's help. Zelda brought the weapons of Young Link to her and Link so they could use them against the Dark Woman. Even with such weapons, they only held their own, and when the woman used her relics to transform into a massive spider-like creature with what looked like an energy spear of some sort, they quickly lost ground. However, their battle did distract the Dark Woman from the threat of King Nohansen.

"The King had since recovered from his injuries and was now able to get to the Triforce unopposed. He went to the relic and managed to touch it. However, as he did so, he made his wish: to wash away Hyrule of all of his enemies. The Dark Woman heard him making his wish and she quickly retreated back to the relic and touched it, making a wish of her own. However, the king finished his wish first and the floodwaters began to cover Hyrule. As the Triforce was about to break apart, though, the Dark Woman finished her own wish: for the innocent people of Hyrule to be saved. This resulted in me getting teleported to the highest point of Hyrule. However, it was not the end, for I then sensed something happen that I can only speculate on how it happened."

"What happened?" Link asked.

"I felt time stop in the Temple of Time and in the surrounding area. Certain parts of Hyrule were frozen in time despite the floodwaters rushing over them. I also sensed no death in those areas, indicating that anyone and anything underneath those waters is still alive. There is still a dark power there as well, indicating that the Dark Woman is also still alive, only frozen in time."

"What about Young Link?"

"His wound was grievous and I was unable to sense his life energy after I sensed the sealing of Hyrule."

Link looked down at the ground glumly. As he did so, Rauru spoke again. "Given the fact that King Nohansen and Prince Daphnes reappeared mere seconds after the sealing of the flooded Hyrule, we know that they are still alive. As for the Older Link and Zelda, I don't know about their eventual fates, even if Hyrule is saved."

"Can Hyrule be saved?" Link asked.

Rauru looked at the Great Deku Tree and the tree soon spoke again. "For the better part of the decade, the Kokiri have attempted to spread my seeds across the islands, hoping that the roots of the planted trees would be able to absorb some of the water and eventually grow the landmass. How that would happen is complicated and is unlikely to do much to restore the kingdom."

"How much of the rebel army survived the battle?" the hero asked.

"Most of it," Rauru answered. "Impa fought for the rebels and she is still alive. Nabooru was also a fighter for the rebels and she was not sealed underneath Hyrule. As for those sealed underneath Hyrule, they would likely not be able to defeat the entire might of Hyrule's army, but that is not too much of an issue at the moment because much of Hyrule's current military is overseas fighting in other wars. Still, aside from the loss of the Sages and Young Link, the rebels suffered few losses, especially compared to those suffered by Hyrule."

"So is there a way to restore Hyrule?" Link asked again.

"I don't know," Rauru eventually answered. "The Triforce is one way, but getting to it, assuming it hasn't split apart into its various components would be nearly impossible right now."

"If it split, what would happen?" Link asked.

"Well, the pieces would find the candidates that embodied the piece that the holder most identified with. Power would go to someone who valued power; Wisdom would go to someone who valued wisdom; and Courage would go to someone who valued courage and was courageous." Rauru's eyes then perked up and went over to touch Link's hand. He studied Link's hand and looked at it hopefully.

Saria looked over at the Sage and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to see if Link, here, has the Triforce of Courage in his hand," the Sage answered quickly as he continued to probe Link's hand. He quickly switched to Link's other hand to see if the Triforce was in that hand. However, he saw no mark and could not get any glow to emanate from either of Link' hands. He then gave a sigh. "So he doesn't have it." He then slumped forward. "So that means that either the Triforce did not break, or that it is in the possession of the Older Link."

"Okay, so let's assume that this Older Link has the Triforce of Courage," Saria began, prompting Rauru to turn to the Kokiri girl. "Who would have the other two?"

"Wisdom would probably go to Zelda," Rauru answered.

"And Power would go to King Nohansen since he touched the Triforce," Link finished.

"King Nohansen is away in the Mushroom Kingdom right now," Rauru stated.

"Which means that Prince Daphnes doesn't have any of the Triforce pieces," Saria added.

Rauru looked downcast at the ground, though. "No, but he has something that may be just as powerful."

"What?" the Kokiri asked.

"The Light Force," Link answered. When Rauru looked at him quizzically, he then asked, "Right?"

Eventually, Rauru gave a glum nod. "And it gets worse," Rauru added. "The prince also has the Ocarina of Time. That allows him to either speed up time or slow it down. It makes him virtually unbeatable in battle unless you have a piece of the Triforce or a weapon that can repel and/or cancel magic."

"Is there any weapon besides the Master Sword that can repel and/or cancel magic?" Link asked.

Rauru shook his head. "No. The only two that could are the Master Sword and the Four Sword, both of which are sealed in Hyrule, with one of them being in the possession of Older Link. So you can see why stopping Prince Daphnes, and his father, for that matter, has little chance of success."

"Your Sage powers can't help fight him?" Saria asked.

"The prince has the Light Force," Rauru countered. "It would override my powers almost immediately and I would be slaughtered. You have no idea how powerful the prince is right now. He can't be beaten."

"So what do you recommend?" Saria asked. "Hyrule's forces will likely find out that Link took the children to Forest Haven. It will only be a matter of time before they come to capture him."

Rauru did not have an answer and looked down at the ground, defeated. That was when Link stated, "I'll leave."

"What?" both Saria and Rauru blurted in unison.

"Saria's right," Link stated. "The prince will be after me for saving those children. However, it's _me_ that he and the others will want. If I lead them away from the island, I can hopefully draw them on a long chase, possibly causing them to run afoul with pirates or new rebel fighters."

"You could also go to Ordona Province," the Great Deku Tree boomed. "The province is known to house magical weaponry that may have the power to defeat the prince."

"What weaponry?" Link asked.

"The Light Arrows," the Great Deku Tree answered. "These arrows have the same power as the Master Sword. They would easily be able to overcome the powers of the Light Force."

Link's expression brightened as he now had a destination and more hope than before. He then turned around and was about to leave when the Great Deku Tree spoke again. "Wait, brave hero."

Link turned around and looked back at the tree and the Sage of Light, who was staring at the hero intently. "You must be careful not to be caught before you obtain the Light Arrows. If you try to fight Prince Daphnes before gaining the Light Arrows, you will not defeat him."

"Don't worry, I won't," Link assured the tree.

"Don't take any foolish chances," Rauru cautioned. "You are our only hope. If you fail, all of Hyrule is doomed."

"I understand," Link said, nodding. With that, he turned and left the Great Deku Tree's clearing.

As Link left, Rauru turned back to the Great Deku Tree and asked, "Can he do it? Can he defeat Prince Daphnes, even with the Light Arrows?"

The Great Deku Tree met them with silence, which told Rauru and Saria everything they needed to know.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Link made his way back into the village and proceeded to make his way towards the exit. As he walked, he looked around and noticed that there were no more Deku Babas or Mad Scrubs infesting the village. He gave a smile. He had a feeling that the breaking of the curse would have eliminated the pestilence, but he was glad to confirm it firsthand. As he walked, he considered everything that he had heard from both Rauru and the Great Deku Tree. He could tell by their tones that getting the Light Arrows was not necessarily going to allow him to defeat Prince Daphnes. They had tried to sound encouraging, but he could read between the lines, as well as their expressions and tones. They had little hope of him beating Prince Daphnes. With the fall of Young Link and the sealing of Hyrule, they felt as if there was no way anyone could stand up to Prince Daphnes, much less King Nohansen. To them, it was only a matter of time before they fell. Still, he would not give up so easily. He would not surrender and let evil win. He would fight to the end, dying if necessary, but fighting to live _and_ destroy the evil. All he needed to do now was come up with a plan on how he could fight Prince Daphnes, for while the Sage and the Great Deku Tree seemed to have given up, a part of him could hardly blame them. The sole remaining Triforce piece was in the hands of the enemy, with the two other pieces being in the hands of those who may have been just as evil, and the only other relic that could match a piece of the Triforce was in the hands of a sadistic and perverted madman who relished in cruelty, debauchery, and slaughter.

He soon began to plan his next course of action. He knew that while everything likely rode on him, he wanted to make sure that there were those who could continue the fight should he fail. Impa and Nabooru were still fighting and doing what they could, so they had not yet given up. Saria was a child, or rather, looked like one, but he felt as if she had not thrown in the towel just yet, either. All he would need would be a victory to show Rauru that Hyrule could be saved. Still, that victory would likely have to be the demise of Prince Daphnes. His escape from Hyrule Castle Island likely enraged the prince and he had a feeling that it would not be long before the prince tracked him to the Forest Haven, assuming he had not done it already.

First thing was first: he needed to get to Ordona Province and retrieve the Light Arrows so he could face off against Prince Daphnes before the prince managed to find him. With the Triforce pieces either being in the hands of King Nohansen or lost, they were the only weapons that could harm Prince Daphnes for sure. After Daphnes was defeated, then he could go from there and think of how to defeat King Nohansen. Defeating the king would most certainly be easier with the Light Force and the Ocarina of Time at his disposal. Also, he had a feeling that there were still some people out there that were willing to fight, or actually _were_ fighting but he had either not heard of them or they were scared of retaliation against their loved ones. Still, the hard part would be defeating the prince and getting the Light Force and the Ocarina of Time. Getting into the castle so he could face off against the prince would be challenging enough, but to face the prince after going through all of the soldiers seemed like it would be practically impossible. However, he would not give up. He would find a way to accomplish such a goal. After all, he had defeated Ganondorf and saved Hyrule before. He could do it again.

As he continued to walk through the Kokiri Forest, he found the exit off in the distance. He checked his supplies and found that he could use some more arrows and also some more Deku Nuts. He then backtracked to the Kokiri shop and went in to buy the needed supplies. As he entered, the shop's proprietor and the other customers did not give him a cold or fearful reception. Instead, he was greeted with warmth and a little curiosity. Once he had purchased all of the supplies he had needed, he departed.

After he departed, he headed back towards the exit of Kokiri Forest. Not too far into his walk, he heard the familiar voice of Impa call out to him from behind one of the houses. He turned and saw the Sheikah warrior gazing at him intently. "What are you planning, Link?" Impa asked, her gaze making it seem as if she were trying to read his mind.

"I have to stop Prince Daphnes and hopefully find a way to restore Hyrule," the hero answered.

"You're not planning on leaving now, are you?"

"I don't have much choice," Link answered. "If I stay here, I'm putting everyone in danger."

"But with the Great Deku Tree's curse being broken, the Great Deku Tree can weave its magic once more to turn away those who would bring harm to the island's inhabitants," came the voice of Nabooru from behind the hero.

Link turned to Nabooru and gave a strained smile. "Perhaps," he admitted. "But that would only be a temporary solution. Eventually, either King Nohansen or Prince Daphnes will return and bring Hyrule's army to crush the Forest Haven. Prince Daphnes already managed to curse the Great Deku Tree once. If he comes back, he may be able to do it again. I have to stop him, no matter the cost to me."

"You know that Prince Daphnes is virtually unbeatable at the moment," Impa cautioned. "He has the Light Force, which can greatly amplify his own magical powers, as well as the Ocarina of Time."

"Rauru has already told me," Link said. "But that doesn't mean that I just stop fighting. I've fought difficult enemies before."

"But none as difficult as Daphnes," Impa replied in a melancholy tone. "He might not have the Triforce, but he has a relic just as powerful as a Triforce piece, and you don't have the weaponry necessary to defeat him."

"The Great Deku Tree thinks that the Light Arrows in Ordona Province can."

"You'd still have to worry about his ability to slow down time for himself. If you can't touch him, you can't beat him," Impa countered.

"I know," Link said plainly. "And if his forces catch me before I gain the Light Arrows, it will be even more difficult for me to beat him. Still, I have to do something. The problem with this world is that no one, save for you and Nabooru, is willing to stand up and fight."

"That's because those that do almost always end up getting killed, many in ways too ghastly to repeat," Impa said, a little more harshly than she had intended. Her expression then softened. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't have worded it like that."

"No," Link answered. "That says everything about the state of things here in Hyrule. And that's why I have to do this."

"Don't let them kill you," Impa warned. "You are the only chance Hyrule has. If you die, this country, and likely this entire world, is doomed."

Link nodded. "Don't worry. I'll win," he assured the Sheikah warrior. "Just make sure that the children remain safe.

It was then Impa's turn to nod and assure Link, "Don't worry about that. The children are safe here with us."

After the exchange, Link then turned around and made his way over towards the exit. As he walked, he walked past several Kokiri, who were now outside of their houses and walking about the village now that the Mad Scrubs and the Deku Babas were no longer present. He was glad to see some normalcy returning for some people inside of Hyrule. The Kokiri were out and about doing chores and work around the village, rather than hiding behind locked doors in their homes. The exit tunnel was not far and he soon approached it. When he did so, he saw a Kokiri boy standing next to the tunnel. The boy had spiky light brown hair that covered his eyes. He was also dressed in a green tunic identical to the ones worn by every other Kokiri boy in the village. As he walked past, the Kokiri boy turned and said, "It seems as if everything is returning back to normal. I guess whatever was ailing the Great Deku Tree has been dealt with."

Link gave him a smile and look of hope but he did not hide the fact that the small sense of normalcy was likely only being felt in the village. Still, he was quick to tell the boy, "The Great Deku Tree will be fine."

The boy soon spoke again. "This tunnel will lead you straight out to the shores of the island. It used to lead to a shortcut to Hyrule Field before the flood. It is said that if a Kokiri ever leaves the protection of the forest, that he or she will die."

"Why is that?"

"No one knows," the Kokiri boy answered with a shrug. "It's not even certain that it is true. However, none of us have dared to leave the forest to test the theory. We may not look it, but many of us are quite old, decades to even centuries. It has to do with the magic of the Great Deku Tree. When it was cursed, we all felt it. It felt as if our lives were going to leave us."

_Could that have been Daphnes' goal_? Link wondered. He thought back to what the Great Deku Tree and Rauru had told him, but it did not make all that much sense to him. Daphnes may have been a sadist and a pervert, but he did not kill people before having his fun with them. Killing the Kokiri like this would have not served his purposes. Besides, the Kokiri were no threat to him militarily so there would be no reason to outright kill them by cursing the Great Deku Tree. He soon let the thought slide and began to step through the tunnel. As he stepped, the Kokiri boy gave him one last parting. "Be careful wherever you go. The Hylians are almost certainly looking for you if you're anything like Link and they also have it in for us, too."

Link looked back at him and nodded. He did not let the boy know that the last Link he had heard of was the fallen Older Link and the likely dead Young Link. He just walked forward and entered the tunnel.

Link emerged from the short tunnel onto a long wooden bridge. This surprised him because he thought that he had exited the village from where he and the others had entered. Still, he did not think to long on it and he went to make his way across the bridge. As he was about half way across, he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye and the sound of a light footfall echo behind him. He stopped and turned around, drawing his sword and Hylian Shield. When he turned, he saw Saria standing before him, staring deeply into his eyes. He put away his sword and shield and simply looked back, waiting to see if she would say something. When she did not, he started the conversation. "You got here quickly. I did not hear you coming after me."

"I did not," Saria answered. "I was here waiting for you for a few minutes."

"How did you know I would be coming this way?"

"Because it is the primary exit from the village. After you cross the bridge, you will find yourself on the trail that will lead to the shore."

Link then thanked her and was about to turn when he stopped and turned back to Saria, noticing that she was still fixated on him. It was at least a minute before Saria spoke. "You remind me so much of him," she said in a distance voice.

"Of who?"

"Of Link. My Link," she clarified when she saw a quizzical look in his eyes. "He lived a long time ago," she continued. "Centuries before the fall of Hyrule. At least a century before the Invasion of Twilight."

That was the era of the Hero of Time, Link surmised. "What happened to him?" Link asked.

"I don't know," Saria answered. "After his adventure to an alternate future, he left the forest to look for his fairy companion, Navi. All Kokiri have a fairy companion from birth."

"He wasn't Kokiri, though, was he?"

Saria shook his head. "No. He was like you…a Hylian. He was also a hero. He warned Hyrule of Ganondorf's treachery and prevented him from getting the Triforce and taking over the kingdom."

Link continued to wait as Saria continued to look in his eyes. "You really do remind me of him," she said again. "The Hero of Time, and the one boy I really, really liked, possibly more."

Link's eyes went wide at that revelation and he was suddenly beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. "I'm not that Link," he told her nervously.

"I know," she said with a kind smile. It took her a moment to realize that she was making him uncomfortable and she then gasped and covered her mouth, saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking at you like him!"

Link began to relax and answered, "It's okay. I know what it is to lose someone you care about."

"She isn't dead, is she?" Saria asked.

Link looked up into the sky for a moment before answering, "I don't know. I hope not."

Saria then looked down at the ground sadly. "Pray she did not end up in this time or on this continent. If she _is_ here, then I would not hold out much hope for her. It has been a long time since we've had any hope."

He could tell. Rauru had all but given up and the Great Deku Tree did not seem to hold out much more hope for a better future. He proceeded to turn around and walk a few steps away before he turned back to Saria and told her, "Never lose hope. Never give up; never surrender. It is only when you surrender that evil truly wins."

She looked up at him and her eyes went wide with surprise at what he had said. She then smiled and nodded. "And good luck to you in your travels Link. May you find whoever you are looking for alive and well."

"Thank you."

With that last exchange, Link proceeded to depart from Saria. The Kokiri girl soon called after him before he left the bridge, "Be careful in your travels. The armies and navies of Hyrule will not stop until they find you."

He knew that but did not care. He would not let the fear of running into the armies of Hyrule, or even facing off against Prince Daphnes before obtaining the Light Arrows deter him from accomplishing his objective. He would save Hyrule, no matter the cost. In fact, given how Rauru and the Great Deku Tree spoke of Daphnes, he began to wonder if getting captured would be such a bad thing after all.

He entered the tunnel at the end of the bridge and emerged from it in a section of the forest that was close to the island's shore. There, he encountered four Bokoblins. They were armed with spiked clubs and gave a cry before charging him. He sighed and performed a spin attack as soon as they were within striking distance. The attack bisected each of the Bokoblins and Link simply walked past the scene as he made his way to the edge of the forest.

He emerged from the forest and found himself on the island's shore. There, he was greeted by two Hyrulean soldiers, each of who were shocked when he emerged from the trees. When he emerged, the two soldiers glanced at each other and exclaimed, "Man, we hit the jackpot! The gods are with us today!"

Each of the soldiers proceeded to draw their rifles but Link did not give them a chance to use them. He drew his Megaton Hammer and rushed the two of them, swinging the heavy hammer. The hammer struck one of the soldiers in the chest, knocking him to the ground, while the second took aim with his rifle at Link. Link then performed a sweep kick and knocked the soldier off of his feet. He then hit the soldier over the head with his hammer, either knocking him unconscious or killing him. The hero then did the same to the first soldier. After they were defeated, he grabbed their rifles and went over to the sea and tossed them into it, wanting to make sure that if the soldiers were not dead, that they would not be armed when they woke up.

Once the soldiers were dealt with, Link scanned the shoreline to see where they had docked their boat, or if there was a ship off the coast in this area. If the soldiers had already come, then they must have already tracked him to the island. In order to protect Impa, Nabooru, the rescued children, and the Kokiri, he would have to lead them away from the island.

Eventually, he spotted a small motorboat virtually identical to the one that the soldiers had used to come to the Arbiter's Grounds when he had arrived in this Hyrule. It was even armed with a cannon. This was perfect. He could easily get the attention of any ship that was coming and with the speed of the boat, he may even be able to evade the ship and take it down of he caught it off guard.

As he went over to the boat, two more soldiers emerged from the boat with their rifles drawn, each of them taking aim at the hero. There was no cover for Link, but the rifles did not seem to have much accuracy, or the soldiers were just lousy aims, and when the soldiers fired, their shots went wide of the hero. Link then drew out his bow and an explosive arrow and notched it to the bow. Pulling back on the string as the soldiers went to reload their rifles, he fired his first arrow. The arrow caught the soldier squarely in the chest and exploded, felling the soldier. Before the second soldier could fire again, he met the same end as his companion. With both of the soldiers having been dealt with, Link proceeded to board the boat.

As he boarded the boat, though, he could not find the starter for the boat. Not only that, but the cannon seemed to need a key in order to operate, too. Looking back at the main console of the boat, he found what looked to be the slot for a key. He suspected that the key was necessary for him to start the boat. He searched the boat from top to bottom but could not find the keys necessary to operate it. He figured that the soldiers must have had the keys and he got off the boat and made his way over to the two fallen soldiers that had met him as he found the boat, hoping that his explosive arrows had not damaged the keys, assuming they had had the keys on their person. Searching the first two soldiers, he found no keys, nor pieces of metal that may have once been keys. He grimaced. He hoped that the two had not tossed the keys overboard when they had spotted him, guessing that he would be able to defeat them. He then went over to the first two soldiers that he had encountered and searched them for the keys. Sure enough, each soldier had a set of keys on his person. Link took the keys and proceeded back to the boat, hoping that one of them would at least start the boat, if not have any of the others operate the cannon.

Going back to the boat and boarding it, he went over to the starter. Getting out the first ring of keys, he slipped one into the slot and tried to turn it. Nothing happened. He then tried slipping in a second key but this one did not even fit the slot. He then tried a third key and turned it. Sure enough, the key turned and he began to hear the rumbling sound of the boat's motor come to life. After a few seconds, the rumbling became steadier and he could see a spray of water rising from the back of the boat. He grinned. All he needed to do now was to find the key that operated the cannon. He went over to the slot and slipped in the first key of the second ring he had found. The key fit into the slot and when he turned it, the cannon became operational and the ammunition slot opened. He saw that the cannon took bombs as ammunition and that there was a supply of bombs already onboard the boat. This was perfect. He would not have to use his own ammunition should he have to engage any enemy boats or ships at sea. Once everything was ready, he looked at the console and gained a rough idea on how to operate the boat.

Once he was ready, he tried to his newfound ideas on how to operate the boat to use. He gathered from seeing the soldiers pilot the previous boat that the wheel was what was used to steer the boat. To his right, he found a lever with a screen that had _1/3, 2/3, full, neutral, and reverse_ written on it. He figured that this was the throttle for the boat and that it could also put the boat in reverse. He tested his theory and when he pushed the lever forward to the one-third position, he saw the boat move forward. He steered the boat to the right so that he would not risk beaching the boat. Eventually, he was far enough out to sea that he could take his time learning how to operate the boat. After a few minutes, he felt comfortable enough with the boat that he could pilot it, and go into combat if he was forced to do so. Still, he suspected that the boat was designed to be crewed by more than one person if it was to be taken into battle.

Once he was ready, he looked out over the sea to see if he could find anywhere to pick as his next destination. He did not have a map of the Great Sea, as he had heard it called, and he saw nothing off in the distance, so he decided that he would simply pick a direction and travel that way until he either came to an island, or his boat ran out of fuel, hopefully the former. He picked to go straight, away from Forest Haven. He immediately gunned the throttle to full and the boat sped off, a spray of water jetting up from behind the boat.

After a minute or so of travel, he looked out over the ocean to see if there was anything of note. He looked to his left and found what looked to be the silhouette of a ship off in the distance. The ship was still too close to Forest Haven and he looked behind, still able to see the island. He throttled the boat back to neutral and let the tides carry the boat as he took out his Hawkeye. Putting it on, he looked at the boat in the distance. The boat was a wooden ship with sails that looked to be the size of a frigate. He could clearly make out the crew on the main deck of the ship. They wore the uniforms of the Hyrulean Royal Navy and the captain wore a regal robe along with his standard uniform. He seemed to be directing the ship's crew and he soon saw line after line of marines assemble before him. Link immediately took off the Hawkeye and changed course directly for the ship. He could tell by how the captain was directing the marines that they were going to be launching a landing party on the island, most likely to search for him. He knew that the ones that the soldiers would find, though, would be the children and the Kokiri. He could not let the soldiers get to them. He knew that he would have to stop them before they had a chance to land on the island.

Looking all throughout the boat, Link searched for any signs of a navy or marine uniform. The marines all wore armor like the army soldiers of Hyrule. While he did not find any marine uniforms or suits of armor, he did find a naval uniform. Even better was that it would fit him perfectly over his tunic. All he needed to do was remove his hood and put on the hat that went with it. Once he did so, he hoped that he would be able to get to the ship with its captain being none the wiser until he was in firing position. He knew that a couple direct hits to the ammunition storage area would be fatal for the ship. After he was dressed, he readied the cannon and loaded a bomb while also placing bombs in the feeding tube as well.

He approached the frigate at a steady speed, doing nothing to look too unnatural. If he went in too fast, they would suspect that he was some hotshot boat pilot trying to buzz them and they would shoot him for contempt, and if he arrived too slowly or kept his distance by too much, he would arouse their suspicion as well. He had to do this perfectly in order to keep them from shooting him, especially since he suspected that there should have been more people on his boat than just him.

As he approached the frigate, a crew member on the frigate's main deck raised a yellow flag seemingly signaling the boat. Link did not know what this meant so he slowed down the boat until it was at one-third throttle since he could not find a flag to communicate to the ship with. The crew member raised the flag again. Link raised his hands, indicating that he had no flags with which to communicate. He had them open, showing that he was holding no weapons. The crew member then raised a red flag. Link strongly suspected that this meant for him to stop the boat. He complied and he brought the throttle to neutral, allowing the boat to coast to a stop. After he came to a stop, the frigate turned and began to come towards him, the ship's bow facing directly towards him. Looking forward, he noticed that there were no bow chaser guns, indicating that he could get in a free hit or two in on the ship. If he did so, he could sink it if he hit it in the right area or at least cause significant damage to it.

The frigate fast approached his small boat, seemingly heedless of the fact that he was armed with a cannon that was pointed straight at the boat. It must have either been arrogance on the part of the captain, or the fact that they suspected that Link was, indeed, a member of the navy. As soon as the ship was within a hundred feet of Link's, it began to slow down. Once it came to a stop, the hero could hear a loud cry from the ship made by one of the crew members. The crew member seemed to be an officer, for the captain soon appeared to approach. "Identify yourself now!" the officer cried.

"I'm Hilbert, son of Humbert," Link answered.

"I have no knowledge of such a person being a crew member on this ship," the officer stated loudly. "Where are the others of your boat? We sent out a search party of four."

"They were ambushed when they got on shore," Link answered. "Apparently some Bokoblins made the shore their home."

"Bokoblins killed the others?" the officer asked skeptically. He then focused his gaze on Link and asked, "And what about the hero or the children he rescued; any sign of them?"

Link shook his head. "I had to retreat before I could search for them. Still, I didn't find any sign of anything on the patrol."

"How could you not?" the captain roared. "Our spotter saw a sloop docked on this island! They have to be here!"

Link was tempted to say, "They are," but refrained and simply went back towards the cannon. "Hey, I can only go by what I saw. The sloop may be a pirate vessel since we saw all those Bokoblins."

"Where were the Bokoblins?" the captain asked, his tone being skeptical.

"Over on shore about a kilometer or two west of here. You should see the bodies on the ground."

"How do Bokoblins have the weapons to pierce marine armor?" the officer asked.

"Do I look like a marine?"

"No," the captain answered with a grin. "Which is strange since we only sent marines on that boat. Who are you really?"

Now it was Link's turn to grin. He simply pushed a button on the cannon and the cannon launched a single bomb at the ship. The bomb erupted from the muzzle of the cannon and struck the bow of the frigate. The bomb exploded upon impact, sending wood and shrapnel flying into the ship. Fire erupted from the hole as the ship shook from stem to stern from the impact. "Damn, it's the hero!" the captain cried, realizing that he was likely talking to Link.

"Sir, we're taking on water!" a crew member cried as the ship began to list forward.

Link did not waste any time firing a second shot into the hole made by the first bomb's explosion. The cannon fired again and the bomb was sent sailing through the hole. Another explosion went off inside the ship and more fire was belched out of the hole, despite the fact that water was beginning to flood into it. The explosion tore more of the hull out of the ship and water began to flood the lower decks of the frigate. The ship listed to the starboard side as Link fired a third bomb into the ship. This one struck the hull and created a new opening near the gun deck. He then backed off as he used the levers near the cannon to aim it towards the new hole he had made. He then fired a fourth bomb into the hole, the bomb exploding and the hole spewing out more fire. Soon, there was another explosion on the gun deck and Link knew that the ship's fate was sealed. He backed off and gunned the throttle after turning the ship away, setting course for northeast. He knew that the doomed ship would not last much longer, for the fire on the gun deck would almost certainly be spreading and the ship was taking on water from his first two shots.

He looked back in amazement as he wondered how the Hyrulean Navy could be so incompetent, or their ships could be so weak. Even though the ship that was sinking was a wooden ship, a few hits to the waterline or a well-placed shot that pierced the gun deck could doom a ship. He wondered why such large ships were even in use. Either they were not being used effectively or they were merely being used for terror, rather than actual combat. Still, from what he saw, the sloop that he, Impa, and Nabooru had stolen earlier was a formidable vessel. Maybe it was simply the fact that it was in the right hands, rather than what amounted to criminals. After a few more seconds, there was a massive explosion and the frigate was reduced to shrapnel and driftwood. Link scanned the scene with his Hawkeye to make sure that no boats managed to escape and attempt to land troops on Forest Haven. After a few minutes, he saw no signs of survivors. Once he was sure that the island was safe, he set the boat to full throttle and set his course well away from the scene of the skirmish.

He sailed away from the scene for about an hour and scanned out over the Great Sea. As he did so, he took out his Hawkeye and peered out over the ocean to see if there was anything of interest within sight. For the better part of an hour, he found nothing of interest. As he was searching the sea and traveling, though, he began to consider his plan to fight Daphnes once he obtained the Light Arrows. He knew that it would be incredibly difficult to infiltrate Hyrule Castle Island and get in undetected. Daphnes, himself, was a magician and he almost certainly employed loyal magicians of his own. Chances were that if he were discovered trying to infiltrate the castle, that he would likely be captured or killed since he had no real items that would allow for stealthy travel. He knew that the Light Arrows could be a game changer once he got them, but there was the issue of how effective they would be against the armored soldiers employed by Daphnes. While he still had Bomb Arrows, they were limited in number, and if he were discovered with the Light Arrows, then the prince would almost certainly know of his intentions, so security around him would be beefed up, assuming Link were not simply killed there on the spot. And to make matters worse, the prince would likely simply confiscate the Light Arrows. Suddenly, going after Prince Daphnes was beginning to look more and more daunting.

As the time passed, Link continued to look out over the sea, not changing course at all. He was puzzled by the fact that he had not run across any noticeable islands in the sea during his travels. He had come across small islands, but they could only be described as rocks jutting out from the sea. There were no signs of any activity on them whatsoever, and there were not even places for him to anchor his boat and get up onto the islands, let alone actually walk around on them.

After another half hour passed by, Link spied something on the horizon. He quickly got out his Hawkeye once more and put it on. When he looked through it, he saw the gray outline of a metal ship. It did not look to be nearly as large as the _H.R.S. Hylia_ but it did seem to be in the same production series as the flagship of the Hyrulean Royal Navy. It was larger than a frigate, though, so he figured that it was likely a cruiser. Looking around the ship, he saw a motorboat being lowered into the water.

He continued on his course not adjusting his speed, trying to look as natural as possible. Still, he periodically looked back at the boat, readying his bow and surreptitiously drawing a Bomb Arrow for if the boat had found him and was coming to either capture him or investigate him. Sure enough, he saw the boat turn to approach him. Not only that, but there were other armed motorboats being lowered into the water from the ship, he counted at least six, which was also beginning to turn to pursue him. He had been spotted.

For a brief instant, he considered trying to outrun the boats or search for an island where he could hide. He quickly nixed that plan. All of the islands, if they could be called that, were nothing more than rocks jutting out of the water. They would be of no use to him. He was also certain that even if he could outrun the motorboats, that the cruiser would quickly catch up to him. However, as the first boat approached, plans began to form in his head. Perhaps his discovery by the ship was a blessing in disguise. This could be his best chance to get close to Prince Daphnes and while it would be as a prisoner, he had escaped dungeons before. He suspected that the prince would want to make an example of him. Still, he knew that he could not let his capture come too easily. He would have to put up some sort of fight.

To that end, when he heard a loud voice cry out over the waves, "Unknown boat, cut the throttle and turn to face us or you will be destroyed," Link did as the voice commanded. He cut the throttle and turned the boat to face the approaching motorboat. The boat was virtually identical to the boat he had commandeered. The other boat, however, had two marines on it, along with a pilot and a weapons officer manning the cannon at the boat's stern. Upon sighting the hero, the two marines whipped out their rifles to fire on Link. "It's him!" the cried. "Kill him!"

"No, capture him!" the pilot of the boat cried. "The prince wants him alive if at all possible!"

The marines ignored the boat's pilot and took aim at Link. Link, however, had already drawn his bow and by the time they were ready to fire, he had already unleashed his Bomb Arrow on them. The arrow streaked towards them and struck one of the marines in the chest, blowing him apart, and also inflicting severe damage to the boat. Link then went over to the cannon and ducked as the surviving marine took some potshots at him. Bullets glanced off of the side and floor of the boat, inflicting no damage, as Link swiveled the cannon around at the stricken boat. He fired the cannon just as the other boat managed to fire. Link's shot scored a direct hit right in the middle of the boat and blew it in half, the enemy boat's cannon firing wildly into the air.

Link did not have any time to relax, though, for there was a large splash of water a dozen meters away from him, followed by an explosion that shot up a large jet of water into the air and unleashed a series of waves that buffeted the boat. He soon heard the pinging of bullets bouncing off of the boat's hull as soldiers were firing at his boat from the other motorboats that were approaching his own. Not only that, but he heard the loud boom of cannons firing on him. More splashes and jets of water formed as the boats were trying to sink his boat. He immediately set the throttle to maximum and rocketed away from the scene. He swiveled his cannon to the rear and lined his sights up with the closest of the boats. He then fired a single bomb at the boat and scored a direct hit on its cannon, blowing apart the cannon and setting off its ammunition stores, causing the boat to explode. The resulting explosion produced a large wave in the water that capsized another motorboat that was already on the crest of a wave. Two other boats, however, continued to fire on Link.

Link lined up his sights with the closest of the boats and fired again, just as the other boats were beginning to draw a more accurate bead on him. His shot hit the boat on the front of the hull, producing a large hole in its bow at the waterline, causing the boat to list forward and sink. A second shot landed on the deck of the second boat, the resulting explosion killing the two soldiers onboard the boat, and causing severe injuries to the pilot and the gunner. However, the boat was not hulled and it did not sink, though it was clearly out of the fight. That still left at least one more boat for him to deal with.

As he was about to draw a bead on that boat, he heard the whistle of a cannon shot blazing past his ears. The large splash in the water a couple dozen meters in front of him told him that the shot had come close. He then swiveled the cannon to deal with the remaining boat when the boat fired again, just a split second before Link did. The enemy boat's aim was true and its shot scored a direct hit on Link's cannon and shattered it. However, Link's cannon also hit true and destroyed the other boat as well. With the other boat destroyed, and no cannonballs or bombs flying by him for a second, he looked at his cannon and found nothing but a smoking pile of debris. He was defenseless. All he had were his Bomb Arrows, and they would do little against a metal cruiser. To make matters worse, he saw six more motorboats approaching him fast. Still, he could not help but grin. This was exactly how he hoped it would play out. There was no way that they would know that this was actually part of his hastily put together plan. All he needed to do now was resist to the end and take down as many enemies as he could before he was captured. Hearing the pilot of the first boat state that the prince wanted him captured alive told him that they would take great pains to make sure that he survived.

He then drew out his bow along with some bombs and arrows, producing more Bomb Arrows. Once they were ready, he waited for the boats to come in range. He soon saw the flash and heard the boom of a cannon firing as he turned to prepare himself to face the oncoming assault. He heard a loud explosion and felt his boat shake as the engine was shattered by the enemy shot. His boat began to slow down and the enemy motorboats began to approach more rapidly now. Soon, one of the boats was within range and he readied his Bomb Arrow. Targeting the boat's waterline, knowing that simply hitting the deck would do little good, he pulled back on the string and fired. The Bomb Arrow arced through the air and struck the boat on the side, detonating. The resulting explosion blew a hole into the boat's side and it began to list to its starboard side as it sank into the water. He quickly drew another Bomb Arrow and fired at the next boat, again, targeting the boat's waterline. Again, another arrow scored a direct hit on the boat's hull close to the water and the resulting detonation blew a hole in the boat's hull. Water rushed onto the boat and it, too, sank. Once the first two boats were sunk, Link looked down and saw that he had only two Bomb Arrows ready. He picked up one of them and targeted the next boat. This boat, however, was coming in using a more evasive pattern, its pilot not wanting to meet the same fate as his comrades on the first two boats. Still, Link was easily able to target the boat and fire his Bomb Arrow. Again, the arrow struck near the waterline of the boat and, like the first two, the detonation blew a hole into the boat that would be fatal for the boat. As it sank, Link marveled at the fact that they were not firing on him. They must have figured that he had a limited supply of Bomb Arrows and they were willing to sustain heavy losses to force him to expend them so that they could capture him more easily. In addition, he looked off into the distance and saw the cruiser closing in fast.

Picking up his last Bomb Arrow, he carefully drew a bead on the closest of the remaining motorboats. This one had four marines on the boat's deck in addition to the regular crew. These marines had also had enough of watching their comrades get sunk and blown apart and were taking matters into their own hands. They pointed their rifles towards his boat and fired, hoping to hit him with a lucky shot. Some of the bullets glanced off of the deck precariously close to the hero but the marines still did not manage to score a hit on the hero. Link proceeded to pull back on his bow, not letting the close calls on the marines' shots rattle him, and he let fly with his sole remaining Bomb Arrow. The arrow arced through the air and hit the bow of the boat right at its waterline and exploded. The explosion blew a massive hole into the boat and it listed forward as it involuntarily dove into the water, and into its grave. That was it for Link as he had expended all of his Bomb Arrows.

Link then drew out his regular arrows and prepared for the enemy to come at him. The other boats approached him without any form of caution. As they approached, Link launched an arrow in the direction of some of the marines on the boat. The marines on this boat were not armored so his arrow easily pierced the marine's flesh and felled him. The other marines then took up firing positions and began to fire over his head, trying to get him to take cover. Knowing that they wanted him alive, though, Link merely stood there and fired at the marines again. Another twang sounded from his bow and another marine fell.

Link then focused on the next boat. He continued to fire arrows into the four marines on that boat until all four of them were felled. Once the last marine fell, the pilot of each boat positioned the boats so that they were right next to Link on either side. Without the marines to fight with them, though, they would be easy pickings for Link. He proceeded to shoot down each pilot and gunner with contemptuous ease. He grimaced as they fell. Despite being in Hyrule's military, they did not fight like a military unit that had vastly superior technology and weaponry to the hero. However, soon, the tide would turn, for the cruiser had arrived, and Link could see lines of armored soldiers standing on the main deck.

As the cruiser came up to Link's stricken boat, Link could see crew members ready to throw grappling hooks down onto the boat so they could haul it on the ship. Link notched an arrow to his bow and fired at one of the crew members that was in the process of hurling a grappling hook down at him. The crew member was struck in the torso and felled by the shot. He then targeted other crew members, trying to limit the number of grappling hooks that could be attached to his boat. He felled two more, but the others were able to hurl down more hooks so they could hook the boat. Once that was finished, they proceeded to pull the boat towards a crane so that it could be taken onboard the ship. Link did not make it easy for them as he fired arrow after arrow at them, forcing them to either fall back to the center of the main deck or die. Those that fell back were promptly whipped by the soldiers and their taskmasters and soldiers and marines began to replace them when they would not go back to what was turning into a shooting gallery. Link fired on the soldiers and marines, felling many of them, but in the end, there were simply too many of the enemy.

They eventually managed to pull the boat to the crane lift and they began to have it raise Link's stricken boat. It rose out of the water and Link prepared to fire more arrows into the soldiers and marines or deck, or feign that he was going to do so, for he did not want to be captured without putting up a fight. They would know that something was wrong if he surrendered too quickly after putting up the fight he already had.

As the crane reached its peak and swung the boat around to land it inside of a small pool on the deck, Link looked out over the main deck of the ship and found dozens of marines and soldiers ready to fight should it be necessary. Knowing that he would not be able to last against the veritable army that was arrayed against him, he lowered his bow, but still kept his arrow notched to it.

Soon, the boat was lowered into the pool and a boarding ramp was extended onto the boat. As soon as that was accomplished, two soldiers wearing suits of plate armor stood at the foot of the ramp. They called out to Link, "Come out with your hands up and your weapons down."

Link stood up and looked out at the deck. Seeing that the soldiers were being backed up by numerous other soldiers and marines, he knew that his time had come. He dropped his bow and arrow, unslung his sword and shield from his back, and raised his hands. He then stepped forward towards the two soldiers as they stepped aside to allow an older Hylian man approach the hero. This man appeared to be in his mid to late fifties. He had black graying hair, blue eyes, and was sporting a graying beard. He wore a naval uniform that Link recognized as being that of a captain in the Hyrulean Royal Navy. As the captain looked at the hero, he grinned as he leveled what looked to be a pistol at Link. "Give me an excuse," he dared arrogantly.

Link gave no answer as he continued to hold his hands up, indicating that he was surrendering. The captain looked over to the two soldiers flanking him and told them, "Seize the hero and take him to the brig. The prince wants him brought to the court alive and intact. He's got special plans for this one."

Though their faceplates hid it, they grinned as the captain gave them their orders. "Yes sir," they answered, saluting the captain. They then boarded the boat and grabbed hold of Link's arms, placing them behind his back and binding them with rope. As they went to drag him off, one of them said, "Please try to escape so we'll have an excuse to torture you before the prince does."

"Actually, no, don't," the other said. "The tortures the prince will heap on you before you die will be even worse if you _don't_ know they're coming. Someone as old fashioned and out of touch with reality has no idea how sadistic, depraved, and perverse the prince can really be." The soldiers proceeded to laugh and even leer at Link as they led him to the brig to await transport to Hyrule Castle as the ship proceeded to change its course so as to take Link to the prince.

The trip to Hyrule Castle Island had been quick, far quicker than Link had been expecting. The guard in the brig had been quadrupled when Link had been brought down to it. They had stripped him of his sack and his equipment and weaponry. The guards seemed to marvel at the equipment that he had with him. "So this is Zora Armor," they said as they went to cast lots for the suit.

This brought the wrath of the chief guard as he barged in on the game and cried, "Stop this now! All of this equipment is to go to Hyrule Castle. The prince wants his master craftsmen to look at this stuff so they can use it to build on the weaponry we already have."

The soldiers, however, complained and whined. "Aw c'mon. Most of this stuff is really ancient stuff, anyway. I mean, he has a bow and arrow, bombs, a sword, and a hammer. I mean, really! Much of this stuff would fetch a mint on the auction block, but in terms of being weapons of war, we've got much better stuff."

"Which did more than a hundred soldiers a lot of good," the chief retorted sarcastically. "Besides, there are some interesting items in here, too, such as the Zora Armor and this suit of gold and red armor that I haven't heard about before."

"Fine," the other soldiers said, almost whining.

One of the soldiers then turned to look at Link through the bars. Though he was shackled to the wall, the soldiers were still uneasy as he focused on what they were doing and saying. "Man, how long will it be until we get to Hyrule?" one of the soldiers asked.

"We're here," the chief answered. We're docking now."

"Alright!" the soldier exclaimed. "The sooner we can siphon him off onto the Knights of Hyrule, the better."

Link could not help but grimace at the soldier's uneasiness. If this was what the military had been reduced to, it was truly pathetic. Suddenly, he was not so surprised that the soldiers in Hyrule had been so easily beaten when facing a true fighter. All they were merely criminals that were given power since they had sided with King Nohansen and Prince Daphnes. They had likely not faced a true enemy at all in their lives.

The ship shuddered as it came to a stop. Link did not know if this was supposed to happen since the _H.R.S. Hylia_ had not shuddered when it had docked at the harbor, but this was a different ship. Is questions were answered as a soldier cried, "What was that?"

"Just the ship docking," another soldier scoffed.

"The ship isn't supposed to shake!" the first soldier yelled.

"So the pilot was off," the second soldier sneered. "All that'll happen is that the helmsman will be punished. We're not gonna sink."

That did little to ease the first soldier's fears, though. Still, they had a job to do. They went over to the cage holding Link and opened it. Four soldiers had their rifles trained on Link as the other two soldiers unshackled him and bound his hands and feet. Once his hands and feet were bound, they led him to the main deck and to the boarding ramp. At the bottom of the ramp was a platoon of Knights of Hyrule along with a carriage. The soldiers pushed Link down the boarding ramp, hoping that he would stumble. Link managed to keep his balance, though, prompting them to groan. Some soldiers still pushed and prodded him to the Knights.

When he got off the ramp and onto the dock, the Knights of Hyrule seized him and shoved him into the carriage. As they did so, the soldiers from the ship said, "He's yours now. Don't blow it."

"Yeah, yeah," Knights droned as they closed the door and indicated that everything was ready. The soldiers then tossed Link's equipment down to the Knights. The Knights had some serfs grab the equipment and weaponry and carry it behind them. They looked back at the soldiers as they retreated back onto the ship. The Knights sneered as the soldiers disappeared from sight and the boarding ramp retracted. Once everything was ready, they turned and headed towards Hyrule Castle.

During the trip to Hyrule Castle, the Knights were constantly looking over their shoulders as they drove Link towards the castle. Near the rear of the convoy, several serfs carried Link's equipment with them, including his sword, shield, Zora Armor, and his sack, which contained the rest of his equipment and weaponry. The soldiers constantly looked around, seemingly fearful that bandits might show up to accost them and steal the weapons and equipment that they were guarding like a dragon guarded its gold hoard. Link suspected that there was something more to it, though, almost as if they were scared that someone would mount a rescue of the hero and help him escape. He doubted that would happen, though. The people of Hyrule just seemed to be too scared to do anything to help anyone. If anything, his capture was a real morale crusher. As it was, the trip to the castle was without incident.

When they arrived at the castle, Link was taken out of the carriage and shoved through the door. He was met by more than a dozen Knights of Hyrule, each of them armed with magical halberds. He did not resist as the Knights took him up to the throne room to see the prince. When they arrived, they shoved Link into the throne room. The interior of the throne room was ornately decorated with enough gold that it looked as if it could sustain a small country. There were golden statues of the prince, Zelda, Link, and King Nohansen. Standing by the entrance were two Knights of Hyrule that were armed with magical halberds, but they were also equipped with large shields. The shields were shiny, so he suspected that they were Mirror Shields of some sort. Some of the Knights followed him in and pushed him towards the ground, bellowing, "Kneel before Prince Daphnes."

The hero was silent as they forced him to his knees. He looked up and saw Prince Daphnes rise from his throne and come over to him, an evil grin plastered on the prince's face. The prince was dressed in a regal white uniform that made him look like true royalty. At the prince's hip was what looked to be a ceremonial sword, but Link had the impression that it was more than mere decoration or a sign of nobility. Link could see the haughtiness in his expression and in how he walked. He was very much unlike Queen Zelda from his own time. He slumped and looked down at the ground, wondering how Hyrule could fall so far. "So we meet again," Prince Daphnes said nonchalantly as he approached.

Link gave no response.

"What? Nothing to say? Don't worry. It won't matter." Looking up at the Knights, he then asked, "You are, of course, searching for the children that he freed, along with the rebels?"

"We are, sire," the Knight answered. "Some of your best soldiers and Knights are on it. When they are found, they will be killed, if not have…other things done to them first."

"Good," the prince answered with a grin. "But I want you to tell the soldiers searching for the Ordonian children that they are to be brought to the castle alive if possible. There are nobles who…love the pleasures these children can be forced to give them."

"Yes, milord," the Knight answered, bowing.

Link gritted his teeth as the Knight departed to relay the prince's orders. Noticing this, Daphnes smiled again. "Oh, come on. You had to have known that this would be the result, both your capture and the death sentence for those children. At least if they had been brought to the castle, they may, I repeat _may_ have merely been made into wait staff for the castle. However, now, they will be pleasure slaves for me and the nobles that visit here." He then walked around the hero and struck him on the back of the head, causing him to fall forward. He then leaned down to Link and continued, "As for you, you really were a thorn in my side. You've killed dozens of my loyal soldiers and you sunk at least three of my ships, one of them trying to bring me more slaves. For that, of course, you will hang. However, that will come on the morrow. For the rest of the day, you will be a guest in the deepest dungeon of the island, while my navy makes its way towards Ordona Province, just to make sure that your hometown is conquered and destroyed. All inferior peoples must either be subjugated or destroyed." He then leaned down near Link once more and sniffed him. "Not a trace of magic on you. You're even more inferior than a pureblooded Human. At least, they have the decency to not look just like a Hylian." He then rose and bellowed, "Take him away!"

"Yes sir," the Knight and the soldiers responded in unison. They then picked up the hero and dragged him to the dungeon.

As Link was being taken to the dungeon, the soldiers that had taken Link's equipment came to the prince and presented it to him. "This was everything we found on the hero. What do you want us to do with it?"

The prince examined the equipment and then replied, "Take it to the armory. Ordonians may be inferior, but they do make some fine weapons. Besides, the guy had a suit of Zora Armor, too. I can have some of my master clothiers look at it. Something like that may be just what we need in order to finally have a way to root out those pesky Zoras once and for all."

"Yes, sire," the soldiers answered. They then bowed and departed to carry out their tasks. As the departed, a dark feeling came over the prince and he soon rubbed his left hand. A triangle glowed in his hand, but it was not a triangle of the Triforce. No, it was something else entirely. The prince then went back to his throne and sat in it. For some reason, he could not shake the feeling that maybe he should have just killed Link right then and there.

Link was led down to the deepest dungeon beneath the castle. It was cold, dark, and wet. The Knights that led him down there slogged through ankle-deep water and pushed him, knocking him to the ground on numerous occasions and beating on his back with sticks that shocked him as they touched him. As he was shocked, though, he did not cry or scream, which irritated the guards to no end.

When they got to the dungeon, a guard inserted the key into the cell door and it opened. The two Knights leading Link through the dungeon then shoved Link into the cell and then closed the door, locking it again. Once the door was closed, they laughed and called, "Enjoy your last night on this godsforsaken world, kid. We know we'll love seein' you get tortured tomorrow." They then laughed as they departed, their laughter echoing throughout the dungeon. As soon as the door clanked behind the last Knight, Link was left alone.

Link then sat there in the darkness, studying his cell. He knew that deep dungeons were designed to break the spirit of their inmates. He would not be broken, though. He knew that there had to be a way to escape. He just had a feeling that given how competent Prince Daphnes' forces had been so far, that something had to be overlooked. Try as he may, though, he could not find any obvious means of escape. This dungeon must have been designed not only to break the spirit, but also be inescapable.

He decided to rest a bit before continuing to find a way out when he heard a something that sounded like rustling. "You won't give up that easily, will you?" a young female voice seemingly scoffed. He did not recognize the voice at all.

"Who's there?" Link asked.

He saw a shadow move into a ray of light. After a second, he saw a Hylian girl standing in front of him that looked to be around ten years old. Link's eyes went wide as he got a clear view of the girl. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in an elegant sleeveless white and pink dress with the crest of Hyrule's Royal Family emblazoned on the front. She looked just like a ten year old Zelda. As soon as she stepped into the light she gave her answer, "My name is Tetra. Technically, I am a princess of Hyrule. I am Daphnes and Zelda's younger sister, named after Zelda's baby's nickname."

Link's eyes went wide with amazement as Tetra revealed to him her identity and her place in Hyrule's Royal Family. She looked over at Link and smiled. "What? Say something," she chided. "Is it so surprising to see a girl locked in the deepest dungeon of Hyrule?"

Link eventually nodded. "Well, don't be," Tetra answered with a sigh. "It's normal in this Hyrule."

"But you're Daphnes' and Zelda's sister," Link countered. "You're the daughter of the king of Hyrule. Why would they want you imprisoned?"

"The greatest threat to the rulers of Hyrule don't come from outside the castle and enemy rulers, they come from within," Tetra explained. "A brother or son is a far greater threat to the king than a border baron or even an enemy king, no matter how powerful said king might be. The siblings and children are close to the throne and often have aspirations towards getting the throne. In today's Hyrule, the bonds of family have little meaning save for possible claims to the throne should the king meet his demise. Make no mistake, the royalty of this world have little love for their children or siblings, and the children of royalty have little love for their parents. I am the same, though I have different reasons for my dislike of my brother and father."

"What happened?" Link asked. "Why are you imprisoned down here?"

"Because I spoke out too often and too loudly against them," Tetra answered. "In addition, being Zelda's sister and a descendant of the mortal incarnation of the goddess Hylia, I also have a portion of the power that came from the goddess down through the generations of the royal family of Hyrule." As Link listened to her, he could not help but think back on what Rauru had told him about the war before Hyrule was flooded. He was surprised that the Sage had not mentioned her.

"No disrespect, but why have you been imprisoned rather than killed?" Link asked.

"Who says he isn't going to kill me?" Tetra answered with a shrug. "He says that I have a choice, to renounce my former ways and join him or to die with you." Tetra then looked down at the ground and Link thought he could see a tear form in her eye. She then gazed back up at him and said, "You know what he's like. I'll never side with him. As such, tomorrow, I will be going to my death."

"Not if I can help it," Link stated, clenching his fists.

"But you can't help it," Tetra countered. "You're stuck here in the dungeon with no access to your weapons or items. Daphnes may be arrogant, but he's not stupid. He won't keep your weapons on hand and within easy access of you for you to simply take and use in order to escape or possibly even kill him."

"Can Daphnes be killed?"

Tetra then nodded her head, but hid a smile. "Yes, Daphnes can be killed. The Light Force is powerful, but it doesn't make you completely invincible. There are ways to kill Daphnes, but you would need magical items to do it."

"What would I need?"

"A magical sword would be nice," Tetra answered. "The Four Sword or Master Sword would be ideal. Both have the power to repel evil and the Master Sword is an outright Evil's Bane weapon. The Light Arrows would also help, but they'd only stun him if they hit him. Other than that, you'd need a defense that could reflect Daphnes' own magic back at him and hope to score a debilitating strike on him before his defenses rose back up. The good news is that Daphnes is impatient. The bad news is that he's not stupid. If he finds that you have a weapon that can reflect his own power back at him, he'll use other items to fight you. You won't get more than one chance against him with any particular plan. But this is all wishful thinking. If everything I've heard about you is true, you don't have a magical sword, Light Arrows, or any magic to speak of."

"I have a Mirror Shield," Link volunteered.

Tetra perked up as Link mentioned his shield. She began to consider their options and eventually said, "That might work, assuming we can get it. But as I said before, Daphnes is no fool. He won't simply have the Mirror Shield, or any highly polished and reflective shield, for that matter, just lying around within easy reach." She then stopped for a second and put her fingers to her chin. "Hmm," she murmured. Link inched closer and soon, Tetra blurted, "Yeah!"

"What is it?" Link asked, hoping that she had come up with a plan.

"Link, give me a strand of your hair," she said excitedly.

Link raised his eyebrows. "My hair?"

"Yes," she repeated. "Hurry!"

Link, seeing that he had no other options, tugged on a strand of hair until it snapped and he handed it to her. Tetra took the hair and placed it on the ground in front of her. She then began to chant in an unfamiliar language. Link listened to her chant and he could see sparkles of magical energy floating about the princess and his strand of hair. After a few minutes, the chanting stopped and he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Shh," Tetra shushed harshly, glaring at Link, causing the older teen to recoil. She then focused back on his strand of hair and eventually explained what she was doing. "I'm performing a magical ritual. This ritual will allow me to summon any weapon or item that you have touched in the last two days to me. Hopefully, you'll be in a position to obtain the items that I summon. The ritual takes a long time for me to prepare. However, once it's started, it can continue until it is finished, which will take a few hours at least. That should be a bit before dawn. Still, you'll want to stay close to me so that I can summon your items surreptitiously. After that, though, it'll all be up to you. I can hold off the Knights of Hyrule, but I've already fought Daphnes before and lost. He's not familiar with your fighting style and since you don't have magic he may underestimate you. If you fight smart you may be able to get a fatal hit in on him. If not, assuming you can hold out for long enough, and I don't get overwhelmed by the Knights of Hyrule, then I can join you. Together, we may be able to defeat him."

Link did not like all the 'ifs' in Tetra's plan, but he knew that this would be their only shot. He could not afford to miss it. While he was hopeful that the plan would work, there was a part of him that had a problem with a child being willing to kill her older brother. It would have bothered him more if he had not already known just how evil Daphnes really was. After about an hour, Tetra rose and told Link, "The preparations are complete. All we need now is to wait for the ritual to run its course. You should get some rest. You'll need to be at full strength tomorrow if you want to beat Daphnes."

Link nodded and made his way over to a small wooden sleeping pallet situated against the wall. The pallet had no padding and was too small to hold the hero and the lower part of his legs extended over the pallet's edge, but it was better than sleeping on the floor, barely. As he lay down on the pallet, he noticed that Tetra had cast spell and was laying on a series of energy fields that seemed to be self-sustaining. He was tempted to go over to her and ask her to create some for him, but he decided against it. He did not want to disturb her, for she seemed to be trying to get to sleep, herself. As he was beginning to drift off to sleep, he began to wonder what his chances of victory really were. Given the powers that Tetra was demonstrating, and that she had already fought Daphnes and lost, he began to wonder what his chances of defeating Daphnes were. There was also another thing that troubled him. Why was she still in this dungeon if she was demonstrating all of these magical abilities? Surely she had enough power to escape the dungeon and find transportation off the island. More importantly, what would keep Daphnes from detecting her ritual? He quickly realized that his questioning was not getting him anywhere. Regardless of whether or not she could escape, he knew that he needed her help in beating Prince Daphnes since it was more and more looking like he would not be able to do it on his own, even if he had all of his weaponry at his disposal. He then let his questions drift away out of his mind as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him. He needed to be at full strength tomorrow if he wanted to have any chance of beating Prince Daphnes and escaping certain death.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

The next day, Link awoke from his sleeping pallet at the sound of a loud clank. He opened his eyes and slowly rose and slid off of his pallet. For a second, he wondered what was going on. His questions were soon answered when he heard the snickering of a guard. "Rise and shine kiddies, if you can, that is, ha ha ha," the guard laughed sadistically as his disturbance had caused Tetra's magical energy pallets to disappear, prompting the princess to fall to the ground with a thud and a grunt. "What's wrong, baby?" the guard mocked, leering. "Can't fit two people on the pallet? Too bad. I'd have loved ta see it."

"Be careful I don't incinerate you for annoying me, Ezio," the young girl snapped, taking the guard aback. Link could see an almost sadistic gleam in her eyes, as if she were daring the guard to come in and try to have his way with her.

Ezio simply gave a humph. "Okay, princess, have it your way, not that it'll do you any good. The time has come."

"It has, has it?" Tetra questioned mockingly. "I thought that our execution wasn't scheduled until dawn."

Link looked out and saw that it was still dark outside. "The prince is changing things up a bit," the guard answered. "He wants you at the gallows as quickly as possible. He wants to show you two some things before you die."

The guard then laughed again as he unlocked the door to the cell. The door swung open but the guard was not concerned that he was outnumbered by Link and Tetra. Link saw why when he saw two shadows in the doorway. There were flickers of light that indicated that they may have been sorcerers. Ezio was quick to notice that Link was appraising the situation and grimaced. He may have been arrogant, but he was not stupid. He stepped up to the door and inserted the key into its slot. Turning the key, a clank sounded. Ezio then swung the door inward and bellowed, "Everyone out. And don't you dare think about doin' anything ta me. I've got backup."

Link's eyes did not leave the two shadows in the corner, the hero suspecting that those two were the backup that Ezio was referring to. However, he did not believe that they were the only ones to accompany the guard to the dungeon. Tetra gave a humph as she stood up and made her way out of the dungeon, Link following her lead. As they left, Ezio chuckled. "Man does the prince have a surprise for you," the laughed.

The prisoners simply grimaced as they followed the guard out of the dungeon. As they made their way out of the dungeon, Ezio was joined by two Hylians dressed in long red robes, who followed behind Link and Tetra. Two Knights of Hyrule also quickly joined them, these soldiers being armed with what looked to be glowing swords, rather than the halberds that most of the Knights had wielded.

The journey to the gallows, which were situated in Hyrule Castle's courtyard, was free of any incident, for the time had not yet come for Link and Tetra to make their move. As they had come up from the dungeon, they had heard the sounds of wailing and groaning coming from various cells as guards were dragging prisoners from their cells up to the courtyard. They were bellowing, "Come on you swine. You've got a date with the gallows, if you're lucky."

Link and Tetra said nothing as they were led up to the castle. Ezio, however, was not so quiet. "Prince Daphnes decided that he needed to clean house, so to speak. You're fortunate. You won't be the only ones dyin' at dawn." He then continued to take them through the dungeon and up to the castle's ground floor.

Once they entered the castle' ground floor, they heard the sounds of crying and moaning. The voices sounded young, as if they were only children. "Looks like the guys are havin' fun this morning."

Link seethed as he walked by, knowing exactly what the nobles were doing. Glancing over at Tetra, she seemed strangely non-responsive to the cries of the children. Seeing Link's glance, she lowered her gaze. "Sadly, you get used to things like this in Hyrule Castle," she said wistfully. The two were then led to the front gates of the castle, two guards looking at Ezio and saluting as he walked towards them. Ezio stopped for a second but the guards quickly swung the gates open and bellowed to him, "Get a move on!" A bead of sweat formed at Ezio's brow as he and the other escorts ushered Link and Tetra out of the castle and into the courtyard.

Link and Tetra heard a raucous cheer as the two of them entered the courtyard, followed quickly by the robed guards and Knights of Hyrule that had been tasked with escorting them. Looking ahead, they saw a gallows set up in the middle of the courtyard. The gallows was large, large enough to execute two dozen people at once. As they arrived, Link could already see more than a dozen people hanging from the gallows. Some were still struggling to breathe while others looked to already be dead. Link was barely able to suppress a gasp at the scene. "Damn, I got here too late," Ezio lamented. "I really wanted to see them gasping for air as they died."

"Well, you're too late," came the voice of Prince Daphnes, causing the group to look up at a section of stands where prince and his court were seated. A dozen nobles were seated close to the prince. Link did not recognize any of the nobles near the prince, suspecting that the more recognizable dukes were out performing their duties elsewhere. Link noticed that his Ordon Sword was sitting next to the prince's throne, as was his magical sack that hopefully held the rest of his equipment. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked from the prince's hand and struck Ezio in the chest, reducing him to ashes. "Tardiness can be deadly," the prince quipped before reclining back in his throne.

Link's eyes were wide with shock at the scene. He looked over at Tetra, who merely shrugged and looked down at the ground. "Don't let it get to you," the princess told Link in a melancholy tone. "This type of thing is commonplace in Hyrule. It's been this way for a decade. You should already know that given the prince's indiscretions."

Link had to admit that Tetra had a point. Still, the callous way that Daphnes killed Ezio troubled him, almost as much as Tetra's seemingly casual reaction to the guard's death. Perhaps she harbored a great deal of hatred for Ezio, who from what little Link had seen, loved poking fun at her.

After a few moments, the prince rose again and proclaimed, "Well, since our guests of honor are already here, albeit a little late thanks to the now _late_ Ezio von Faron, and that the prisoners from the morning are already dead, it's time to get this show on the road. After all, it's dawn."

Just as he said that, the sun began to peek over the horizon. Light began to shine onto the land and it became easier to see. The sunlight gleamed off of the armor of the Knights of Hyrule and other soldiers that were standing guard in the courtyard. As the dawn's light shown over the courtyard a feeling of hope and optimism came to Link. Despite having a plan, he had felt that his chances against Daphnes and the royal court were slim to none. Now, that gloomy feeling had been washed away. The fact that Daphnes was keeping Link's weaponry close by also helped give him confidence that the prince had made a grave error and that victory was not just a futile dream. Even Tetra seemed to look a little livelier as the sun shown across the courtyard.

After a few seconds, Daphnes stepped forward onto a platform in front of his throne that overlooked the entire courtyard and the gallows. He was dressed in a regal purple robe and a crown. He had a sword at his hip, which Link suspected was a magical weapon. As he stepped forward, a large golden triangle glowed from his torso. The triangle seemed to take up most of his torso and the golden glow shown forth from him. "The Light Force," Tetra muttered.

"Quiet you!" one of the soldiers snapped as he struck the girl in the back, causing her to fall forward.

Link went to stop the guard from further abusing the girl when Daphnes held up his hand and yelled, "Wait!"

The guard stopped and turned to Daphnes, bowing and saluting him. "You can have fun with her later. First, we have to get through these proceedings."

"Yes, sir," the guard answered, bowing.

After waving off the comment, Daphnes looked down at Link and Tetra. He gazed at Tetra first and said, "Princess Tetra, you have been formally charged with sedition, conspiracy, and aiding an enemy of mine. How do you plead?"

Tetra gave no answer. After a few seconds, the prince said, "Very well. I find you guilty of all of those crimes. The sentence is death by hanging."

He then turned to Link. "Now, we have the main part of these proceedings," he said with a sinister grin as he focused his gaze down on the hero. "Link."

The hero looked up at the prince, scowling. Daphnes grinned. "You have been charged with sedition, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, countless weapons violations, battery, murder, and a whole list of other charges on the docket that I can't remember at this moment. How do you plead?"

Link gave no answer.

"Giving me the silent treatment like Tetra, huh? Fine then." He then pointed at Link and proclaimed, "I find you guilty of sedition, assault, assault with a deadly weapon, countless weapons violations, battery, murder, and the rest of the charges on the docket. Your sentence is death by vivisection after slow torture. The sentence is to be carried out immediately."

Link gave no reaction to the prince's judgment as two Knights of Hyrule stood and began to move towards him, their helmets retracted to show the glee on their faces as they each drew serrated knives. "Don't worry, kid, this will hurt more than you can imagine!" they said, barely able to contain their excitement. Looking into their eyes, Link could see nothing human in them. They did not even look like animals. There was nothing but evil in the hearts of the two Knights coming over to vivisect him. The Knights looked over to two other guards who were dressed in what Link guessed was a form of army uniform. It consisted of a blue and white shirt and white pants. The two guards, who were armed with pistols, did not look to have any swords or armor. He then surreptitiously glanced over to Tetra, who gave him a dark look and a curt nod. The time had come.

She looked up at Daphnes and scowled. However, there was a look of concern in her eyes. "Stop this, Brother," she pleaded. "He deserves better than this!"

"So did many of my other victims," Daphnes retorted derisively, grinning at the girl. "But they still died, crying in utter agony as their sentences were carried out. Hell, if he remains conscious after the initial incision, that's when the real fun will begin."

That was when Tetra grinned. "No. It begins now," she said darkly.

Daphnes began to wonder what his younger sister meant when Link suddenly charged towards one of the guards, shoulder-first, barreling into him and knocking him to the ground. The two fell to the ground. The dazed guard did not realize that Link was going for his pistol and made no attempt to stop the teen as the teen drew the pistol from the guard's holster and turned, targeting the nearest Knight of Hyrule. He pointed the weapon at the Knight and pulled the weapon's trigger. A loud bang echoed forth over the courtyard and a bullet rocketed from the barrel of the gun. The bullet found its mark in the Knight of Hyrule and managed to knock the Knight down. Link did not know whether or not the bullet had pierced the Knight's armor, and he did not care. He simply knew that one Knight was down and that he would have to deal with the next one, who was already pointing his halberd at Link. As the Knight was about to fire, though, a stream of flame erupted from Tetra's hands and engulfed the Knight, setting him ablaze. The Knight ran around the courtyard, screaming as he burned. Link glanced over to Tetra and nodded in thanks. Tetra smiled and then turned to focus on Daphnes as Link went over to the fallen Knight and took a small bomb and lighter from the Knight's pouch.

The hero looked to his right and saw a squadron of Knights coming his way. Using the lighter, he lit the bomb and tossed it over to the Knights. The resulting explosion took down several Knights, allowing Link to focus on other enemies. Gunshots soon rang out as several guards readied their rifles or pistols and took shots at Link, dirt flying into the air as bullets struck close to the hero. He took cover behind the gallows, allowing the bullets to ricochet off the wood. Link looked around to see if he could find any discarded weapons lying around him, but he could find none. Just then, an explosion of flame erupted from the center of the formation of troops firing on Link. Tetra had saved him again.

During the fighting in the courtyard below, Prince Daphnes looked on in shock and rage. He had suspected that Link would try to mount an escape attempt, but he had expected it to be during the night while he had been in the dungeon not just as he was going to be executing the hero. Just to be safe, though, he glanced over at Link's weapons and items to make sure that they were still there. They were, but he had a feeling that Link and Tetra would be going for them soon. He was proven right when he noticed Tetra glance towards him. She then extended her hand and a field of blue energy surrounded the magic sack and Link's sword and shield. They immediately flew through the air and rocketed towards the half-Hylian hero. The weapons and sack landed right next to the hero and he immediately grabbed them just as two Knights of Hyrule were targeting him with their magical halberds. Link grabbed his Mirror Shield and raised it, the shield intercepting the green blasts of magical energy, the blasts splashing against the shield and being reflected back at the firers, felling them, for their armor was of little use against magical energy blasts. Link then drew his bow and arrow from the sack and scanned the area to look for targets while Tetra fired a volley of lightning bolts at a squad of Knights of Hyrule, felling them with single hits. Link, meanwhile, focused on a squad of soldiers that were targeting the princess, targeting the leader and felling him with a single arrow. The other soldiers then turned to fire on Link but the hero ducked behind the gallows, using them for cover as the soldiers fired wildly at him. The hero prepared another arrow and peered out to take down a soldier, ducking back just in time to avoid the return fire.

As for the onlookers and audience in the stands that had come to watch the executions, most of them were now yelling in terror as Link fought back against his captors and were now fleeing the courtyard in an attempt to get out of what was now turning into a warzone. They did not stay to watch Link fell a soldier with each twang of his bow. Even more terrifying, for them, was the fact that Tetra was basically on a rampage, having killed more than a dozen Knights of Hyrule already. Her fire and lightning barrages were quickly thinning out the ranks of soldiers in the courtyard.

The nobles that were sitting with Daphnes went over to the prince, who was still watching in shock and rage at Link and Tetra's defiance. One of the nobles cried, "My lord, you must call in all available soldiers now! Our forces are getting…" but he never finished his sentence, for Daphnes turned to the noble with inhuman speed, drew out his sword, and stabbed the noble in the heart."

"Shut the hell up!" Daphnes cried, prompting all of the other nobles to freeze and kneel on the ground before him. "I'll handle this my own way!" He then looked at each and every one of them and continued, "But you do have a point. My forces are being depleted down there. That means that there's only one thing I can do."

He then grinned as with a single wave of his hand, he sent the eleven remaining nobles flying from the stands down to the courtyard below. The nobles were in shock as they flew through the air and landed on the ground with a thud. They were slow to rise as a dozen Knights went to engage the hero and Tetra, targeting the girl with their magical halberds. This would only end in disaster for them, though, since Link quickly joined her, holding up his Mirror Shield. Sure enough, the Knights opened fire on Link and Tetra only to have their magical bolts reflected right back at them, each Knight falling to his own fire.

Once the Knights were felled, the nobles looked back up at Daphnes, who merely laughed and told them, "You were the ones who wanted to have more forces to take down the two prisoners. You're the best qualified to do so!"

The nobles scowled and they knew that Daphnes had simply sent them down to the courtyard to face the duo since they were complaining to him, but he actually did have a point. Each of the nobles were of noble blood and the magic of the Hyrulean Royal Family still flowed through their blood, even if their ties to the Royal Family were twisted and distorted. Still, they were concerned about the prospect of facing down the hero and the princess since Link had a Mirror Shield and Tetra was showing that she was a very talented and powerful magician. Some of them were wondering if she was not actually channeling some of the Light Force inside of her. One of the nobles, a man in his early thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes extended his hand forward, targeted Link with a lightning attack. Five bolts of lightning erupted towards the hero, only to strike the Mirror Shield and be reflected back at the noble. Since the noble was a magician, the noble was not killed by his own return fire. However, the bolts of lightning did manage to paralyze him, which allowed Link to deploy a Bombling his way. With the other nobles fleeing the mechanical bomb, the lone noble could do nothing as the bomb hit him and exploded, blowing him to pieces.

The other nobles quickly responded by powering each other up with a variety of magical spells that enhanced their speed, strength, and defense, while others fired less direct magical spells at the duo. One spell tried to cast a death spell on Link that took the form of a dark mist but Tetra used her own magic to catch the spell and disperse it safely. Another noble cast an Earth spell that sent a fissure through the ground towards the duo. Link was quick enough to avoid the fissure and the energy erupting through the crack in the ground, but Tetra was forced to raise a Nayru's Love shield. The fissure struck her and sent her flying, even though no damage was inflicted on her. The spell continued towards the gallows and struck it, tearing through it and collapsing the entire structure. As for Tetra, she landed on her back and grunted as she hit the ground with a thud. "Damn, that one hurt," she cursed.

She then rose and gritted her teeth, focusing on the nobles that had attacked her. She retaliated against them by firing several fire beams. The nobles raised magical shields to protect themselves and the beams bounced off of the magical force fields they erected, but one of the nobles, a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes much like Tetra, was too slow to react and a beam managed to hit her. Instead of setting her ablaze, though, the beam simply melted her into a puddle of liquefied flesh, blood, and bone, woman screaming as she died. The other nobles, seeing the gruesome nature of their comrade's demise, gaped at Tetra as she dared them to face her.

Link looked on in surprise as well. He was not only surprised by the fact that she had cursed when she had been hit by the earth spell, but was also shocked at the gruesome nature of her fire spell and the demise of its target. Still, she was fighting on his side and she was not launching random blasts up into the fleeing onlookers, something Daphnes or someone like him would have done. Still, the brutality of her attack unnerved him. However, he knew that she would likely need help fighting the more than a dozen nobles that were arraying themselves against her. He was about to join her when he heard a loud bang from behind him. He turned and saw a squad of soldiers lining up and drawing out their rifles in order to open fire against them. These soldiers were not clad in armor so they would be easy to take down. Seeing smoke rising from the barrel of one of the rifles, he quickly drew out his bow once more and began firing arrows into the ranks of the soldiers, starting with the first soldier. He felled the first soldier with a single arrow and quickly targeted the second, felling him. With each twang of his bow, he took down a soldier. Of the eight soldiers that had come out, three were now down. A fourth twang of his bow took down another soldier as an arrow protruded from his head. The other arrows retreated to search for cover from Link. The hero would not have any of that, though, and he took out a bomb. He lit it and tossed it over to the soldiers. When the bomb landed among them, they saw its fuse burning and rose up to flee the resulting explosion. The bomb detonated and its concussion knocked down the fleeing soldiers. He did not know if they were dead or not and he did not really care. They were out of the fight for the time being.

Meanwhile, Daphnes watched as Link and Tetra were slaughtering the guards and Knights that he was sending at them. He grimaced. If this kept up, he would run out of soldiers. He knew that he would have to handle this himself. Seeing that Tetra was busy with the nobles, he saw Link dealing with the soldiers that were firing on him. He then grabbed his sword and shield and then closed his eyes for a second. Once they opened again, he was no longer clad in his usual uniform, but was now covered in shiny gold armor from head to toe, his head covered by an ornate helmet. He then leapt into the air and descended down into the courtyard, landing right in front of Link. The prince glared at the hero. He drew his sword and pointed it at Link, prompting Link to draw his own blade. "You won't escape now, hero," Daphnes stated arrogantly. "Tetra's bogged down against the nobles and I've ordered my soldiers to block all the exits. It's gonna end hero, right here, right now."

The prince then charged towards Link, holding his sword high, which caused Link's eyes to go wide with shock. The prince had not cast a spell on himself and it seemed as if he was simply going to challenge Link to a swordfight rather than use his magic against him. The prince rushed the hero and swiped downward, trying to bring his sword down on the hero's head and bisect him. With blinding speed, Link drew his Hylian Shield and raised it, catching Daphnes' blade on it, a loud clang ringing out over the courtyard. Link pushed back against the prince using his shield and attempted to push the prince off balance so he could get beneath the prince's guard and strike, for despite the fact that it looked like he had an opening, Link knew better.

Daphnes soon showed Link that his caution was wise as he drew a dagger with his left hand and proceeded to thrust it at the hero around the shield. Link moved his Ordon Sword to intercept the thrust and managed to knock the blade away. A subsequent thrust went for Daphnes' dagger hand in an attempt to sever it. The prince managed to pull back his hand far enough to avoid it being cut off, but Link managed to make contact with the blade, his strength being sufficient to knock the smaller blade out of the prince's hand.

Daphnes quickly backed off, his left hand still tingling from having his dagger being knocked out of his hand. However, the damage had been done. Link was using his Hylian Shield, a strong defense, but one that would undoubtedly have difficulty defending against magic. He quickly put it to the test as he backed away a few steps and formed a ball of fire over his hand. As the ball of fire formed, Link immediately went evasive as he charged towards the prince in a zigzag pattern, trying to reach the magician before he got the spell off or, at the very least, hoping to cause the prince's spell to go wide. Daphnes thrust his hand forward and the ball of flame leapt from it, prompting Link to move to his side, allowing the ball of flame to sail past him and explode well away from him. Once it exploded, he continued his charge towards the prince.

Daphnes, however, was no fool. Immediately after firing off his ball of flame, he began to form a dome of flames around him, a fire spell that he had seen Queen Zelda of his time use. The hero backed up and the dome of fire continued to expand for several more meters before dispersing. However, the time during the spell's casting and activation was not spent idly by the Hero of Twilight. Link had gathered several Deku Nuts and once the dome had vanished, he tossed two of them right at Prince Daphnes. Daphnes did not recognize the nuts as a threat until they hit his armor and detonated, emitting a bright flash and a loud crack. The flash and crack of the nuts stunned the prince and Link quickly charged the dazed prince, drawing his Megaton Hammer, for he knew that his Ordon Sword would not be able to penetrate the prince's heavy plate armor on a slash. Only a thrust with the armor-piercing tip of his sword would do it, and that would only work if he could put some real force behind the thrust. As such, though, when he arrived, he swung his Megaton Hammer right at the prince's head, knowing that he would at least knock down the prince, if not inflict some real damage to him.

The hammer struck the prince in the head and a loud clang rang out as metal smashed into metal. The prince fell to the ground like a sack of bricks, falling onto his back with a thud. Link quickly put away his hammer and drew his sword, knowing that this was his chance. He then jumped into the air and thrust his sword downward, using his strength as well as gravity to aid his thrust. The armor-piercing tip of his sword bit into the golden armor of the prince and went on through. He was surprised at how far the blade seemed to be biting into the prince's armor and flesh, for his sword easily pierced the prince's armor and was going further and further down into the prince. Daphnes spasmed upwards with the stab and he coughed blood as the sword bit into his flesh. He stared at Link in utter shock. "How?" he struggled to gasp.

Link did not answer, merely twisting his sword in order to inflict more internal injuries to the prince. He was so close to finishing the prince and he did not want to give Daphnes a chance to recover, assuming he could, which was a safe bet due to the Light Force. The prince spasmed with the twist again. However, he still managed to muster the strength to raise his hand and fire a ball of magical energy at Link. The ball of energy erupted from his hand and struck Link directly in the torso. Normally, such an attack would have destroyed Link's torso and blown the hero apart, but due to the injuries suffered by the prince, the blast only managed to knock Link off his feet. It inflicted no damage to Link at all. Still, it gave the prince a chance to rise, Link's sword still embedded in his chest.

"Damn…you…Link," the prince cursed, spitting more droplets of blood. "Why…why couldn't…you have…just…died like you were supposed to?"

He then grabbed the hilt of Link's sword and grimaced as he pulled it out of himself. As he was doing so, two Knights of Hyrule came to assist him. "No!" the prince yelled. "Get him!" he cried, pointing at Link.

The Knights proceeded to engage the hero, who took out a bomb and tossed it over to the Knights, prompting them to flee before the explosive detonated. Link also backed away to make sure that he was not caught in the blast, too. The Knights quickly fled the hero's bomb and managed to escape its blast. However, their intervention had given Daphnes the time he needed to pull the sword out of his chest. He grimaced as he pulled the sword out of him, grunting and groaning as it slowly exited his body, blood leaking from the wound. Eventually, he managed to pull the blade from his body and he lurched forward with relief as soon as the blade was removed.

Once the blade was removed, the prince's would began to close. A sucking sound was heard as the skin closed over the wound and after a couple of seconds, the wound was completely closed. Daphnes then threw the Ordon Sword at Link, blade first, prompting the hero to raise his Hylian Shield to catch the incoming blade. The sword bounced off of the shield and fell to the ground. Link went over to grab the blade and then looked over at Daphnes. Despite the fact that his wound had been healed, at least on the outside, the prince was still breathing heavily and he also looked to be sweating. It looked as if the internal injuries from the stab were healing more slowly, or the blow to his head was more serious than he had originally thought.

Daphnes went to move forward only to stumble and nearly fall. He shook his head and blinked his eyes. His vision was still blurry from the hammer blow and he was having difficulty focusing on Link. He knew that he had to do something fast. He then remembered that he had the Ocarina of Time with him. If he used that, he could play the Inverted Song of Time, he could slow down time to the point where he would have a clear edge over Link. He then reached into his armor and pulled out the blue ocarina and tenuously placed it to his lips, the prince still feeling the effects of the hammer's blow.

The Hero of Twilight took advantage of the prince taking out the ocarina and sheathed his sword once more and pulled out his bow and arrow. Looking across at Daphnes, he could tell that the prince had the Ocarina of Time. Remembering Zelda telling him that she could play magical songs on it, he did not want to risk Daphnes turning the tide of this fight by playing a magical song. Wasting no time, he took out an arrow and notched it to his bow. He then pulled back on his bowstring and let fly with the arrow. The arrow rocketed from the bow and almost instantly crossed the distance from Link to Daphnes. The arrow pierced the prince's armor and bit into his flesh, causing the prince to stagger backwards and drop the ocarina just as he had begun to blow into the instrument. However, the prince was not finished. No longer having the ocarina, for the time being, Daphnes extended his hand forward and unleashed a devastating volley of lightning bolts. However, since he was still feeling the effects of the blow from the Megaton Hammer, he was unable to properly aim his bolts. The lightning went wide of Link, and instead, fried two Knights of Hyrule who were coming up to blindside Link from behind.

Link, believing that the end was near, quickly took out a bomb and tied it to an arrow. Daphnes, knew that he was in trouble, so he did the only thing he could in his addled state. He raised his hands to cast a new spell. Fortunately, this one was successfully cast. A blue magical crystal formed around his body and the prince unsteadily went over and picked up the ocarina. Link had seen this spell before. Much like the dome of fire, it had been used by the Zelda of his time. He grimaced. He only hoped that the shield had a time limit as Daphnes put the Ocarina of Time to his lips and began to play, hoping to complete the Inverted Song of Time before his shield was put to the test.

As for Link, he the last thing he wanted was for Daphnes to get an edge by playing a magical song. As such, he quickly took out a bomb. He knew that its explosion would not inflict damage to Daphnes, but if the bomb blast could send the prince flying, he would keep Daphnes from being able to play the ocarina and possibly inflict more damage simply from the act of falling to the ground improperly. At the very least, it would not give him a chance to get a hold of himself and recover from his current injuries. He then proceeded to toss a bomb at Daphnes. The bomb struck the shield and detonated upon impact. The explosion sent Daphnes hurtling through the air. He crashed into the ground with a thud but the shield protected him from sustaining any damage. However, the force of the impact had startled him enough that he had dropped the Ocarina of Time once more.

Link then tossed another bomb at the prince, the explosion pushing him backwards, away from the ocarina. Just as with the first one, the prince did not take any damage from the blast, but it kept him pinned down. Link then tossed another bomb at the prince to keep him off balance. Each explosion caused the prince to stagger farther and farther away from the hero and kept him off balance, unable to launch a retaliatory attack on the hero. Link hoped that the shield would not stay up for too much longer, though. He was beginning to run low on bombs and he did not want to start using more of his Bomblings, Bombchus or Water Bombs just yet.

Link soon tossed another bomb at the prince, the explosion sending him flying through the air once more. He landed on the ground with a thud again. He attempted to rise, but another explosion soon had him flying through the air once more. He soon hit the ground again. This time, as he struggled to rise, the blue shield disappeared. He was vulnerable once more. He immediately tried to cast a healing spell on himself but he found that his magical reserves were beginning to run low. He must have been subconsciously using them to keep himself alive when he had been stabbed.

The prince then rose and drew his sword. He charged Link once more, taking numerous hacks at the hero. However, since the prince was still disoriented from the pounding he had taken earlier, his charge was disorderly and his attacks were off balance. Link managed to sway away from each of Daphnes' sword swings. Daphnes then raised his sword to strike at Link again but the hero raised his shield and thrust it towards the prince. The hero caught the prince's blade on his shield and with the thrust, knocked the prince off balance. Link then swung his sword hard and struck the prince in the abdomen. The sword was not able to pierce the prince's armor, but did dent it and send the prince reeling. A subsequent blow was intended to cleave the prince's head, but the helmet was strong enough to blunt the blow so that there was only a small rend in the helmet, with the sword not managing to cut the prince. However, the blow did knock Daphnes to the ground, dazing him. Despite his daze, he knew that he was not going to defeat Link in this condition. There was only one thing left for him to do. He grimaced. "I should have done this from the beginning," he seethed.

He then rose and stared at Link, who was drawing his bow and arrow. He soon grinned. "You've had your fun, hero. But your time has come. Now you will know the full might and power of the Prince of Hyrule!"

As soon as he had made his proclamation, a golden light shined forth from his torso. His torso began to glow and a triangle formed on his torso. The Light Force was activating. Link wasted no time firing an arrow at Daphnes. The arrow streaked from his bow to Daphnes' body, but when it struck the prince, it glanced off of his body and burst into flames. Daphnes went on to cackle. "There's nothing you can do to me now, hero!" he cried as golden flames began to emanate from him as his entire body began to glow. "This is the true power of the Light Force! This relic is stronger than either the Triforce of Wisdom or the Triforce of Courage. There is no way you can defeat me!"

Link was not about to give up, though. He took out a Bombling and set it down right in front of him. The insect-like bomb skittered over to Daphnes, who merely grinned and stood firm. The Bombling struck the prince and detonated, the flame from the blast covering the prince and the cloud of smoke obscuring him for several seconds. However, as the cloud cleared, the prince was still standing in the center of the cloud. It was also clear that he was completely unfazed by the explosion. "Now do you see hero?" Daphnes called. "You can't beat me. Now you're going to join all the others who opposed me in death!"

The prince then drew his sword, which was also now glowing a bright gold, and charged Link with incredible speed. It was only Link's own quick reaction time and his skills that allowed him to perceive the prince and manage to evade the thrust, which missed him only by millimeters. Had he known about the Inverted Song of Time, he would have been more thankful than ever that the prince had not been able to play it. Link backed away as the prince performed a sideswipe with his sword. Believing that the blade would have cut through his Ordon Sword, and possibly even through his Hylian Shield, Link jumped backwards and managed to avoid being cut by the sword. As he landed, he almost tripped over a piece of metal lying on the ground. Looking down, he saw that it was a discarded shield from either a soldier or a Knight of Hyrule. He picked up the shield just in time to raise it to try to block Daphnes' next attack. The prince performed a thrust that easily managed to pierce the shield, barely missing Link's arm. Link released the shield just as quickly as he had grabbed it as Daphnes pulled back his blade and then swiped at the hero, cutting the metal shield in half. This, however, gave Link time to grab some Deku Nuts and toss them at the prince, hoping that the nuts would work where nothing else in his arsenal would.

The nuts detonated and, surprisingly, the prince's attack stopped as he gave a loud cry, covering his eyes and flailing around himself wildly. He even began firing streams of flame all over the place, incinerating discarded metal shields, swords, and even some still living Hyrulean soldiers. Seeing that the nuts were effective weapons against the prince, Link tossed another nut at him. The detonation of the Deku Nut continued to blind the prince, giving Link the chance to run away from the prince and make this a ranged battle. However, this turn of events also gave him hope. If the Deku Nuts could blind him, then the prince was not completely impervious. A powerful enough weapon could still take him down, either a powerful enough weapon, or a weapon designed to get through the prince's defenses. And Link strongly suspected that the prince's own magic could be reflected back at him and damage him, much like Twinrova's magic had done with her. The only issue would be how to get the prince to fire a powerful enough blast of magic that it could break through his defenses and possibly even kill him.

As for Daphnes, it did not take him long to recover from the Deku Nuts. As soon as he had, though, he closed his eyes for a second and began to power himself up. He clenched his hands into fists and began to grunt and groan as he bent his knees, as if preparing to lift a heavy weight. His groans soon became a long drawn out scream as golden flames surrounded him. His hair billowed in the wind as it shot straight up as his body was seemingly set ablaze. His eyes glowed a bright gold as his body was now simply gold energy. He soon found Link staring at him, holding out his sword and pointing it at the prince. Daphnes merely laughed. "It's over now, Link," the prince bragged. "Even your Mirror Shield won't be able to stop this!"

Daphnes soon spread his hands out and the glow that was his body soon became so bright that it practically blinded everyone on the battlefield. Even Tetra and the nobles, who were still fighting, had to close and cover their eyes for fear of even letting a hint of light entering into their vision blinding them. Link, however, was able to take it and continued to look into the light. He knew that he should have been blinded by the light but he was not. While he still shielded his eyes, he was still able to see Daphnes from a slit in his fingers, being careful to keep track of the prince. He did not ask any questions as to why he was still able to see, he just readied himself. He glanced back and made certain that he was ready to grab his Mirror Shield to intercept the blast. He knew that he would have to be quick, for if he was too slow, Daphnes' attack would kill him, and probably do a great deal of damage to Hyrule Castle Island.

Not too far away from Link, Daphnes was in the last stages of powering his blast as his chest was now glowing a blinding gold and white. As soon as he was ready, he cried to Link, "Now you die!"

As soon as he cried those fateful words, he unleashed his attack, a massive stream of white gold energy erupted from his chest, creating a massive groove in the ground. As he heard Daphnes' cry, Link instinctively grabbed his Mirror Shield and held it out in front of him. The blast quickly crossed the distance between the two combatants and it collided with Link's Mirror Shield, the entire blast being drawn to it like a magnet, rather than the parts that were wider than the shield continuing on their destructive path to destroy Link and probably a noticeable portion of Hyrule Castle Island.

As the beam collided with Link's Mirror Shield, it pushed hard against the hero and he staggered backwards, struggling against the awesome power of the beam. Still, Link managed to plant his feet and pushed back against the blast. As such, it was not long before it was not only the shield that was pushing back against the beam, but the beam, itself, that was pushing back against it. When Daphnes saw this, he was astounded. "What the…?" he grunted as he realized that he was now fighting part of his own attack. He pushed more energy into his beam, not realizing that he was doing exactly what Link had hoped for. The hero had known that Daphnes could only be beaten by his own attack, and now Daphnes was foolishly pushing all of his energy into one massive attack in the hope of killing Link when with a little more patience, he may have been able to wear down the hero and then kill him without exposing himself to danger.

Still, he was not about to give up. As he pushed more energy into his beam, he continued to push against the energy that was being reflected right back at him. "Die, die, DIE!" he cried at Link, who was also struggling against the tremendous power of the beam. "Just $&#%ing die!"

Just as he had cried that curse, though, his own power seemed to give out and he suddenly found himself facing down his own attack. He had only one choice left. He pushed all of his remaining magical power into a Nayru's Love Shield. The blue crystal formed around his body as the tightly focused beam was streaking towards him. The beam soon hit the shield and splashed against it for a moment before breaking through and striking Daphnes directly in the chest. As soon as it struck him, the beam pierced him and there was a massive explosion. Metal, debris, and bodies that were anywhere close to Daphnes were hurled through the air as a massive crater formed in the courtyard where Daphnes had been standing. There was a massive cloud of smoke that was obscuring the place where Daphnes had been standing.

As for Link, he had managed to remain standing and was now looking into the center of the dust cloud, waiting to see the result of the reflected attack. He was hoping that Daphnes was either dead or close to dead, for if Daphnes had survived and was still able to fight, then his only hope of defeating the prince would have failed.

After about twenty seconds, Link began to see an object glowing from the center of the dust cloud. He began running towards the object to get a better look. As the cloud cleared, he found that the object was a triangle about the size of a human torso, maybe a little smaller. He guessed that it was the Light Force. Did that mean that Daphnes was dead? He hoped and prayed that it was the end of the evil prince, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that the prince might not have perished just yet.

He made his way over towards the Light Force so he could grab hold of it in order to make sure that none of the other nobles could get their hands on it. As he headed over to it, though, he felt a wisp of wind that should not have been coming. He instantly drew his sword and turned, managing to catch a blade. The blade he caught was a broadsword that looked to be chipped and burnt, for smoke was rising from the sword. Link looked at his attacker and saw that it was none other than Prince Daphnes. The prince's armor was rent, with multiple tears in it. Entire sections were missing, with others barely hanging on by a thread. It was clear that while Daphnes was still alive, he was not in very good shape. If he continued the fight, he would be in danger of being killed. "You bastard," the prince cursed. "You forced me to use all of my magic to keep myself alive. Even now, I was forced to use all of the power of the Light Force that my body could handle in order to stay alive. Discarding the Light Force for a time was a calculated gamble to get you to lower your guard, but it was one that was well worth it. Now, you will die, hero."

With that, Daphnes went to thrust his sword into Link, but the hero was too quick. He raised his Hylian Shield and managed to catch the prince's damaged blade. A piece of metal broke off from the tip and it began to look blunted. Still, the prince continued on the offensive, swinging at Link wildly, for the attack had taken its toll on the prince and his fatigue was showing. Link caught each strike with either his own sword or his shield, pieces of metal breaking off from the prince's blade with each strike.

After two more strikes, Link counterattacked, performing a sideswipe that managed to cut the prince across the torso in a section of his body that was no longer armored. The price cried as the blade was raked across his torso and he glared at Link, gritting his teeth. He looked down at his torso and saw blood leaking from the cut. He then launched into another volley of swings and stabs. This would prove fatal for the prince, though, for Link immediately caught his first blow on his shield and then, just as the prince withdrew his blade and was about to perform another attack, Link swiped at Daphnes' sword arm, severing it close to the shoulder. The arm fell to the ground, the prince's sword still in its grip. Daphnes gave an agonized cry as he lost his arm. He would have staggered backwards but in one fluid motion continued from the swipe that took off Daphnes' arm, Link pulled back his blade and thrust it forward, stabbing Daphnes in the heart. Daphnes cry stopped for a second as he practically went into shock, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. He then mustered all of his remaining strength and gave a loud cry. As he yelled, the structures and stands bordering the courtyard began to crack and collapse. Those too close to the stands were crushed by the falling debris, as were those still sitting in the stands, too scared to dare trying to flee the scene despite the fighting. The nobles' battle with Tetra was interrupted as some falling debris fell too close to the combatants, one of the nobles being crushed by a falling column. Daphnes' voice rose in pitch and volume until suddenly going silent when Link withdrew his sword and with one crisp motion, beheaded the prince, the prince's head falling off of his shoulders. His body then fell to its knees, and then collapsed onto the ground. Then, all was silent and the tremors stopped, or seemed to, for Link could swear that he still felt some vibrations in the ground.

Once the prince was dead, the fighting stopped as each of the combatants realized that something had happened. They looked over towards the center of the courtyard and saw Link standing over the fallen and headless body of Prince Daphnes. They soon noticed the prince's head not too far away from his body and saw the hero give a sigh and almost slump near the fallen prince. It was clear that he was relieved that the fight against Daphnes was over, but that the battle had yet to be decided, for he and Tetra were still outnumbered. He then turned towards the princess and saw that she and the others were staring at him, their eyes wide with shock and some of them with their mouths hanging agape. None of them seemed to be pleased at the prince's passing, though.

As Link looked out over the battlefield, he saw that it was littered with bodies and equipment from the fallen soldiers. He also noticed the Ocarina of Time lying on the ground, the instrument still glowing. He went over to it and picked it up, placing it in his belt. After picking up the ocarina, something else caught his attention as he felt that the tremors from before had not stopped. Something was going on. As he looked up and noticed a squad of Knights approach, he saw that one of them wore gold armor that was far more ornate and decorated than that of the other Knights. He suspected that this had been the Captain of the Guard and faced the Knight. As soon as the captain's eyes met Link's, the soldier cried, "Kill him!"

The other Knights were not ready to oblige, seeing the fallen headless form of Prince Daphnes lying on the ground. "What are you standing around for?" the captain roared. "Kill him you fools! He must still be weak from fighting Prince Daphnes!"

Some of the Knights and soldiers looked back at him as if he were an alien from Planet X. "Are you freaking kidding? There's no way we're takin' on the guy who killed Daphnes!"

Several Knights promptly quit the battlefield and fled the scene. Others, however, were emboldened by the captain's call to action and they targeted Link with their rifles and magical halberds. Link knew that he had little choice, so he placed a series of Bomblings on the ground and released them in the direction of the Knights and soldiers and then dove for what little cover remained. If nothing else, the bombs would force the soldiers to break ranks and give him an opportunity to assist Tetra, who was still holding her own against the nobles, but seemed to be beginning to lose ground. The soldiers did not break ranks, though, and continued to fire at Link. He drew his Mirror Shield and used it to protect himself from the halberd blasts while he was confident that he was far enough away from the rifles that they would not be able to hit him with any degree of accuracy. Still, he quickly found a hiding place in the wreckage of the gallows. Soon, he heard a series of explosions and cries as the Bomblings arrived at their targets and exploded. This gave him the opportunity to open his magic sack and take out his Magic Armor. He took it out and put it on, covering himself in the red and gold armor.

Once he was clad in the armor, he emerged from cover and he made his way over to Tetra, who was engaging in her own battle against the remaining nobles, there were only four, now three of them left since the lead noble was melted by a flaming beam unleashed upon him by Tetra. However, the other nobles soon swarmed Tetra, unleashing a flurry of magic spells her way from fire spells to lightning bolts to bolts of dark energy. She raised a shield over herself, but it was not Nayru's Love and Link could tell that the shield was having trouble holding against the onslaught.

He went to lighten Tetra's burden as he drew his bow and an arrow from his quiver. He targeted the closest noble, a tall Hylian man with red hair and green eyes, and pulled back on his bowstring. He then released the string and the arrow rocketed from the string, crossing the distance between Link and the noble in the blink of an eye. The arrow struck the noble in the back and felled him. This caused the other two nobles to turn to try to face their attacker, giving Tetra a chance to launch her own attack on them, and attack she did. She extended her hand and unleashed a volley of lightning bolts at the two remaining nobles, instantly reducing them to ashes.

Once the nobles had been dealt with, Link and Tetra stopped and looked around the courtyard, scanning for other enemies. All they saw were bodies and debris. They were alone. Link gave a sigh of relief but did not take off his Magic Armor just yet. He did not want to escape his battle with Daphnes alive just to be taken down by an intelligent sniper. Looking over at Tetra, he saw that she was breathing heavily. She then sighed and fell to her knees, prompting Link to rush over and catch her before she fell to the ground. "Thank the gods that's over," she heaved as he held her. She then looked up at him and smiled. "And thank the gods you managed to defeat Daphnes."

He then released her and the two of them looked around the courtyard. There was no sign of anyone still present in the courtyard, either inside of it or inside the stands. The two of them even looked up at the castle's walls to see if there was any sign of troops staging near the walls to rain arrows or bullets down on them. They saw that the walls appeared to be crumbling, with cracks and rends in the brick and mortar that had not been present before their planned executions. Just then, they felt the ground rumble. The two glanced at each other and Link could see Tetra's eyes go wide.

"Link, we have to get out of here now!"

"What's happening?" the hero asked.

"Daphnes must have cast one final spell to take us with him," Tetra answered. Link then remembered the loud cry that the prince had given before being beheaded. He had initially thought that the cry was one of anger, pain, and resignation, but in the back of his mind, he had been concerned that it could have been something else when the tremors had not stopped entirely after the prince's death. He looked over to Tetra and saw the girl close her eyes. She then opened them up again and said, "He _did_ cast a spell. He linked the entire Hyrule Castle Island to him during your fight with him." She then paused and stared into Link's eyes. "Link, he used the power of the Light Force to cast this spell. I can't stop it."

"I have the Light Force," Link offered. "Could you use it to try and stop the spell?"

"No," Tetra answered, shaking her head. "I could only slow it down, and only if I hadn't burned my entire magical energy against the guards and nobles. Link, we have to get off this island. The entire island will be destroyed! There's a boat in the castle's basement in a secret area that leads out to the great sea. Follow me!"

Tetra then began to run towards the castle, whose structure did not appear to be very sound. Link, however, hesitated to follow her, looking out over the courtyard and into the town square, itself. "Wait, what about the civilians?" Link called over to the princess. "We have to warn them or something!"

"Don't you think the tremors and shaking are alerting them to the fact that something bad is going on?" Tetra retorted a little more harshly than she intended. "Link, there's nothing we can do for the civilians. We have to save ourselves. Daphnes' personal boat is the only way we can do it now!"

"What about the ships in the harbor?" Link asked.

"They'll be crawling with soldiers and castle guards and the last thing we need is to get into another fight," Tetra answered. "Besides, they're the best bet for the civilians to get off this doomed island. Now let's go! We don't have much time!"

Link nodded and followed Tetra, seeing her wisdom. He followed her into the castle, whose walls were beginning to crumble to the ground. He looked on the ground for any signs of shadows indicating falling rubble. When he saw a shadow get larger, he made certain to not be under it, for a large piece of stone or other debris was almost always soon to come crashing down to the ground.

Link followed Tetra into the castle, where they were met by several armored guards. These guards were armed with swords and bows and arrows. Not wanting to get bogged down in a lengthy battle, Link took out a bomb, lit its fuse, and tossed it over to the soldiers. The bomb struck the soldiers and detonated, blowing apart one of them and scattering the others. While his Magic Armor protected him against any attack, he checked on his Rupee count and saw that it was decreasing rapidly. Besides, while he was protected from enemy attacks, the same could not be said about Tetra, who was still winded and likely had not recovered enough strength to use Nayru's Love yet.

The duo headed to a stairwell and rushed down the stairs, which were crowded with people trying to escape the castle. They had to push their way past the crowd, Link carefully holding onto the Light Force and keeping an eye out on Tetra to make sure that she could get through the rush of people.

After going down to the basement level, they made their way down a corridor. Rats squeaked and went to nip at the duo's heels but were dispatched with single swings of Link's sword. When a fork in the path came, Tetra took the path that led to the right. Link followed her, both of them being careful to avoid any falling debris since Link did not want to risk running out of Rupees while he had the armor on.

As they traveled down the path, Tetra closely scanned the wall. There were no decorations on the wall save for a single suspiciously placed curtain. Link focused on the curtain but Tetra looked back and told him, "No, it's not there."

She then went to stone a few meters away from the curtain that looked to be an ordinary brick built into the castle. She then pushed it in and suddenly, a crack formed along the wall. The entire basement began to tremble more than it previously had and dust began to fall from the ceiling. After a second, Link realized that it was due to the escape pathway opening rather than Daphnes' spell. A section of the wall soon slid backwards and then split as it revealed a secret pathway to another part of the castle.

The duo darted down the narrow corridor, Tetra leading the way. Link drew his slingshot on the off chance of encountering more rats or some Keese, but there were no signs of activity in the corridor. The corridor eventually opened into a larger cavern. There was what looked to be a small river entering into the cavern. There was a dock a few dozen yards in front of the two and at the dock was a boat not much larger than the motorized patrol boats used by the Hyrulean Navy. The boat was made of metal and had an engine sticking out of the rear. In addition, it also had a cannon positioned at the rear of the boat, along with two other smaller cannons that seemed to be designed for anti-personnel use on each side of the boat.

Rocks were falling from the ceiling and crashing all around the dip as they made their way to the boat. Link made certain to stay close to Tetra to make sure that he was able to keep her safe. On one occasion, he had to pull her out of the path of a falling rock. Pulling her back and onto the ground, the rock missed her by inches. After it fell and she got back up, she thanked Link, saying, "Much obliged."

Link smiled and nodded. The two then continued towards the boat, which was being buffeted by waves produced by rocks falling from the ceiling into the water.

Once they arrived at the dock, the two quickly boarded the boat. When they did so, Link quickly went to the rear of the boat to see if it was tied. Seeing that it was, he drew his sword and cut the rope, knowing that they did not have the time to simply untie it. Once the rope was severed, Link went over to the main control seat but found Tetra already sitting in it. She produced a key from her dress and inserted it into the ignition slot. She then turned it and the boat's engine came to life. She looked back at Link and asked, "Are we unbound?"

Link nodded, still surprised to see that Tetra seemed to know how to operate the boat as well as she did. "As a princess, I was taught how to operate all escape craft," she explained to the hero with a knowing smile. "Daddy never guessed that I would use this boat against him. This was Dad's personal boat until he left for the Mushroom Kingdom and gave it to Daphnes."

Link did not care about the history of the boat, only that they managed to get out of the castle in once piece. "Hold on Link, we're getting out of here!" the princess called as she gunned the throttle.

A spray of water erupted from behind the boat as the motor rose in volume as the boat began to accelerate away from the dock and travel down the narrow channel that led to a light at the end of the tunnel. All around them, rocks fell from the ceiling and into the water, producing waves that buffeted the relatively small boat. Still, the boat was able to power through the waves and emerge from the tunnel into the open sea.

Tetra still maintained full throttle as they escaped the tunnel, flying out of it at full speed. Once they were at least a kilometer away from the island, Tetra throttled the boat back and she rose from her seat to look at Hyrule Castle Island. The island was trembling and many of the structures on the island were beginning to fall, including Hyrule Castle, the largest structure on the island. She could see several shapes emerging from various ports on the island, boats that belonged to the wealthy citizens of the island or to the soldiers. She and Link also clearly saw some ships departing the main harbor, with at least a half dozen ships at least the size of frigates emerging from the harbor. They seemed to lack direction though, since Daphnes had been slain in combat less than an hour earlier.

The duo continued to focus back on the island as Hyrule Castle began to collapse. First, the outer ledges and bridges collapsed, falling off the sides of the towers. Then, the main tower began to fall, breaking and falling into the main castle, itself. This caused the battlements to fall. Dust and debris were ejected from the castle as the tower fell. Soon, the other towers fell, collapsing into piles of rock, throwing out dirt and debris as they fell. Anyone unfortunate enough to be caught inside the castle was likely already dead. It was not long before the entire castle collapsed, leaving nothing but a pile of stones and fallen columns. However, it did not end there.

Tetra soon powered the throttle and took the boat farther away from the island. The island continued to shake. Soon, cracks began to form in the structure of the artificial island, itself. Sections of the island soon fell into the sea as what was left of the remaining structures on the island also collapsed. Piece by piece, the island broke apart, with many pieces sinking into the sea to find their way to the bottom of the ocean.

As the island broke apart and sank, gigantic waves were produced and Tetra had to turn the boat into the waves to keep it from capsizing. The boat rode the waves, reaching the crest of each wave before traveling down the wave and into the other one. More than once, the deck was practically flooded, with Link having to hold onto the rails and brace himself for the waves. Tetra, however, merely strapped herself into the pilot's seat and rode it out. Link was not certain how safe that was considering that if the boat capsized, she could be trapped if the straps were difficult to untie. After a few minutes, though, the last pieces of Hyrule Castle Island fell into the sea and the waves stopped. The worst of it was over.

Once the island had sunk completely, Link took off his Magic Armor, not wishing to lose any more Rupees than he already had. He had a feeling that money would be pretty hard to come by in this Hyrule so he wanted to save what he did have for an emergency. Once he was out of his armor, he looked over at Tetra, who was staring at the location where Hyrule Castle Island had once been. "An island that stood for one hundred years, the greatest achievement of mankind, destroyed in mere minutes by a capricious and vengeful teen," she said wistfully.

She then turned to face Link and he could see the stress in her eyes. Everything that had happened to her and all the pain she had felt was finally coming to the surface. He felt it too. He knew that chances were that a lot of people died in the sinking of the island. While he did not have any sibling of his own, he viewed some of his friends as younger siblings and he would do anything to protect them. Despite Daphnes' evil, he had a feeling that deep down, Tetra had still loved her brother. Going over to her, he asked, "Will you be alright?"

It took a moment for her to comprehend that Link had asked her something. Eventually, she turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She then looked out at the fleeing ships and hoped that none of them had picked up their boat and would come to investigate. For the better part of half an hour, she watched as the remaining boats and ships that had fled the island went their separate ways. Even the warships that had escaped did not travel as a fleet to one single location. Link could not help but notice that Tetra seemed to grin as she saw the ships split up. Feeling his gaze on her, she explained, "The taskforce that escaped the island is fragmenting. There are many high-ranking nobles in King Dad's court. Many of them are still alive. This may be the best thing to happen for Hyrule in a long time. The military at home will need guidance. Many may have served Daphnes, but inwardly despised him, not acting against him because of his power." She then gazed at Link and noticed the Light Force glowing in his pocket. He took it out and placed it on a seat he was standing near. Tetra then reached out her hand and magically called the relic to her. The Light Force then disappeared into her chest. "The Light Force is a relic passed down through the generations of Hyrule's Royal Family. With Daphnes dead and my older sister trapped beneath the sea, I am its inheritor."

She then studied Link, who gave no indication of his thoughts on her taking the relic. He eyed her with curiosity but did not bring up the subject of the Light Force. More important things were on his mind. "So what should we do now?" he asked.

"First thing's first, we've gotta go someplace where we can get our bearings."

"Where is that?"

Tetra then smiled. "Kakariko Island," she answered. "It has a town and it may also have maps of the previous Hyrule that we can overlay with maps of the Great Sea."

"What will that do?" Link asked.

That was when Tetra gave a happy grin. "It will allow us to find my older sister and the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage. Those relics, combined with the Light Force, will allow us to restore Hyrule to its former glory. And once that's done, we'll finally have an army that can help us face down my father and his forces." With that, Link and Tetra set course for Kakariko Island.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Link let Tetra guide the boat as they traveled the Great Sea towards Kakariko Island. Link let the time pass without making any conversation. Tetra took periodic glimpses back at Link before resuming her focus on the sea ahead. The trip was actually quite boring, which Link was surprisingly thankful for. He had had enough excitement for a while. As they continued to travel across the sea, Link took out the Ocarina of Time and examined it. It still maintained its glow, indicating that it had not lost any power. He checked the instrument for any signs of damage, considering that it had been dropped by the prince twice during their battle and had been in the middle of a war zone. It looked to be in pristine condition. He then put the instrument back into his pocket.

As he put the ocarina back into his pocket, Tetra looked over at him and noticed him holding the ocarina. "What is that?" she asked.

Link looked back at her not knowing what she meant. He figured that she knew about the ocarina. "What is what?"

"That?" the princess reiterated, pointing to his pocket. "What did you place inside your pocket?"

"Oh," Link answered as he reached into his tunic's pocket and pulled out the Ocarina of Time. The moment he pulled it out, Tetra's eyes went wide, mesmerized by the sight of the ocarina.

"By the gods, we just may be able to do this!" she exclaimed joyfully, running over to Link. "Gimme!" she commanded as she reached for the ocarina like a little kid wanting her toy back.

Link gave her a quizzical look and held the ocarina just out of her reach, suddenly becoming suspicious of the girl. While she was young, she had not acted like a little kid ever since he had seen her. She had seemed very jaded and serious, showing very little signs of being the ten year old that she was. She attempted to reach it but it was still out of her reach. She then stopped and pouted, crossing her arms. Link did not have a tight grip on the ocarina and he figured that if she really wanted it, she would have used her magic to get hold of it. He continued to study her and she continued to pout. She soon began to tap her foot. "I'm waiting," she said in a tone that was just one step away from a warning.

"Why are you so eager to get the ocarina?" Link asked. "You were like a little kid trying to get it just now."

"It's a treasure of the Royal Family," she answered. "With Daphnes dead and Zelda being frozen beneath the sea, I am its rightful owner."

"But what use is it?" Link asked. "The Triforce is already in this world and the only use I remember it being was as a key to the Sacred Realm."

"The Ocarina of Time is _so_ much more than that," Tetra said almost as a sigh. "It can play magical songs that allow the user to warp from place to place in an instant. Some of its songs can have a soothing effect on beasts or even on people. Some songs can affect the flow of time, allowing a day to pass, or even simply call down sunlight into an enclosed space, allowing you to freeze certain undead foes like ReDeads or Gibdos. It is a really powerful tool if used in the right hands. And I also happen to know many of the songs that can be performed on the ocarina."

The hero understood where the princess was coming from and gave the instrument to Tetra, who snatched it from his grasp like a ravenous dog being given a bone with meat still on it. Once she had gotten the instrument, she went back to piloting the boat while Link manned the cannon, just in case an enemy ship appeared.

Just as Link went over to the cannon, Tetra jumped from her seat and yelled, "Heads up Link, we've got company!"

Sure enough, the half Hylian hero looked out the starboard side of the boat and saw a large gray ship off in the distance. He grimaced. Tetra seemed to be more concerned as a plume of smoke rose from the ship followed by a trail of fire that followed what looked to be a gray rod. "Damn, it's a missile cruiser!" Tetra swore as she extended her hand and fired a blast of lightning at the incoming missile. The lightning struck the missile and electricity arced all over its skin. The engines of the missile quickly died and it plummeted into the sea, sending up a spray of water as it crashed. Tetra looked at the missile seemingly quizzically and Link heard her mutter, "So they managed to make one, huh?"

"What was that?" Link asked, never having seen a weapon like that before.

"A missile," Tetra answered. "They are experimental weapons that are designed to be used with magic. It's fired much like a cannonball but it has a store of fuel in its back that allows it to travel farther than normal. The fact that I was able to disable it with my lightning, though, indicates that magic was used to guide it here. Most missiles are dumb fired and not all that accurate, if they work at all. Those with magicians behind them, though, are deadly. Still, missiles like this and missile cruisers were simply in the experimental stage the last time I heard."

She then went to the throttle control and turned the wheel and powered the throttle, taking the boat towards the missile cruiser. "What are you doing?" Link asked, concerned about the boat's new heading.

"Taking out that missile cruiser," Tetra answered. "With Daphnes dead, all of the surviving nobles will be at each other's throats and looking for an edge, any edge. If we can take out an edge, we can keep the fighting going on while we get our bearings and try to restore Hyrule. Man the cannon. We'll only get one shot at this."

Link had his misgivings about going after a ship that had the weapons range of that missile cruiser, which was vastly superior to their boat's range, but Tetra looked back at him and gave him a confident grin. "Don't think we're going into this without an edge of our own," she chided.

As she said this, she closed her eyes and cupped her hands in front of her. A blue crystal formed in her hands, a prelude to Nayru's Love. She then spread her hands out and the crystal began to grow. The crystal quickly encompassed Tetra but it also began to expand beyond the girl. It grew in size and quickly encompassed Link as well. The crystal continued to grow until it had surrounded the entire boat. Only then did the crystal stop growing. She then gunned the throttle to maximum power and sent the boat charging straight towards the missile cruiser. "Eyes open Link," Tetra called back to him. "The increased size of my Nayru's Love spell also decreases its duration. You need to hit that ship with everything we have the moment we're within weapons range."

Link nodded and took stock of the cannon. He saw a barrel that was loaded with cannonballs, bombs, and even some long metal rods that that strongly resembled the missile that had been shot at their boat a couple of minutes ago. It looked as if Daphnes had his boat equipped with missiles of his own. Opening the rear ends of the rods, he saw stores of oil, indicating that they were, indeed, missiles or rockets of some sort. He took one of the rods and loaded it into the cannon.

As he loaded the cannon, he heard some pings from outside the ship, followed by louder explosions. He looked up and saw several explosions erupt against Tetra's Nayru's Love shield. The missile cruiser was growing in size as the boat began to approach. He went over to the cannon and hoped that the missile had the range to hit the cruiser. He took aim with the cannon, being careful to not point it up too high, knowing that the rocket would overshoot its target since it was unguided. He then pulled the lever and the rear end of the cannon opened. Immediately, fire erupted from the cannon's rear as the missile's engine came to life and the missile flew out of the cannon. The missile phased through the Nayru's Love shield and flew straight towards the missile cruiser, the missile not lowering at all as the engine's propulsion kept it moving in a straight line. The missile cruiser continued its futile assault against their boat as the missile crashed into the bow of the ship and detonated.

The explosion that resulted was greater than anything Link had ever seen resulting from a single weapon before. The explosion tore away the bowsprit of the ship, along with a noticeable portion of the bow, itself. The ship now had a gaping hole in the front that was only good for swallowing massive amounts of seawater. The ship involuntarily listed forward and dove into the water. Link could see crewmembers jumping over the sides of the ship and into the water as they abandoned their doomed ship. After a minute or so, the ship was completely submerged in the water. Link and Tetra were victorious. However, their victory would be short-lived.

As soon as the missile cruiser had sunk, they saw another ship coming towards them. This one was merely the size of a frigate but, like the cruiser, it had been made of metal. Then they saw another ship appear over the horizon, and another, and another. The other ships were frigates, but they were also made of metal, and they had a number of bow guns. "Okay, time to go," Tetra quipped as she spun the wheel in order to bring the ship about. "Have you got any more of those missiles?" she called back to Link.

Link looked into the ammunition stores and saw two missiles. "Two," he answered.

Tetra grimaced. "It'll have to do. Target the closest ship and destroy it," she commanded. "I'm running low on magic reserves and won't be able to raise more than one Nayru's Love shield." The moment she had said this, the Nayru's Love shield collapsed, prompting the princess to raise another one. "This is it. I don't have enough energy to raise a third one," she warned.

Link nodded and proceeded to load the cannon with the missile. He then swiveled the cannon so that it was aiming at the rear of the boat. He lined up the cannon's sights with the enemy ship and fired. The missile leapt out from the cannon, Link being careful to close the cannon's rear hatch so that the back blast from the missile did not incinerate him and Tetra. The cannon lurched backwards as the missile was launched. It streaked towards the onrushing frigate, the missile leaving a bright trail of fire and smoke as it flew straight at the approaching ship. The missile struck the ship in its bow and detonated. Much as with the missile cruiser, the missile blew apart the ship's bow and the boat listed downwards as it was taking on water. It did not take long for it to sink. Tetra then gave a yell of delight. "Woo hoo! And another one takes a dive!"

Link then loaded the cannon with their final missile and took aim at the next closest ship, which was now within firing range. He fired the missile and it leapt out of the cannon once more. The cannon lurched backwards once again and the rear of the cannon was blown backwards across the boat's hull. The cannon was now useless. As with the other missiles, this one streaked towards its target in a straight line. It scored a direct hit on the ship's bow and blew it apart immediately upon impact. This explosion, however, did not simply destroy the bow, but it blew apart the entire front half of the enemy ship. The second half listed forward and fell into the sea.

"That's it. We're out of missiles," Link called to Tetra.

As he had told her of the situation, he heard numerous pings against the Nayru's Love shield. The enemy ships were within firing range. Once the shield fell, the boat would be destroyed. He looked back at the ruined cannon and knew that the boat had no way of defending itself. He then looked over at Tetra. "Any ideas?"

"One," she answered. She then pulled out the Ocarina of Time. "We'll warp to Kakariko Island."

"Warp there?" Link said in disbelief. "Is it that simple?"

Tetra nodded. "There's a temple not too far away from the main town center. It's called the Shadow Temple. It's a temple dedicated to one of the Sages. The Hyrulean army doesn't use it. It's too scary for them with all of the undead creatures living inside of it. Anyway, I can use the Nocturne of Shadow to take us there."

"Why didn't we just do this from the beginning?" Link asked.

"Because _someone_ didn't alert me to the fact that he had the Ocarina of Time on his person," Tetra answered petulantly, placing her hands on her hips as she looked up at Link, almost scowling. "Besides, we needed to sink that missile cruiser so that no one would have any edges in the upcoming conflict," she added quickly.

Link had his doubts but he did not push her. She did have a point about him not telling her about the ocarina but it had simply slipped his mind. Still, he could not help but think back to how desperate she was to get the ocarina once she had learned that he had it.

Tetra took out the instrument and told Link, "Come here."

Link obeyed, walking up to the girl. As he was doing this, more explosions sounded against the Nayru's Love shield. The boat was now encompassed in a dark blast cloud, which caused Tetra to grin. "Hug me, but not too tightly," she commanded, eyeing him seriously. "I don't want you to get all touchy feely with me. Still, we need to be in close proximity for this to work for both of us."

Link obeyed her and hugged her lightly, getting just close enough so that his hands were touching her shoulders. She nodded and then put the ocarina to her lips. She then blew into the ocarina. The song that came out sounded like a dirge. As soon as she blew into the ocarina, the Nayru's Love shield failed and the boat was defenseless. The song that came out sounded like a dirge, or as much of one as one could get by playing an ocarina.

As soon as the song was finished, shining purple sparks of energy surrounded the duo and carried them away from the boat and they disappeared. Just as they had vanished from the boat, a series of cannonballs struck the boat and exploded, shattering the boat, sending debris flying all over the place. Since the initial blast cloud had not cleared entirely by the time Link and Tetra had warped away from the boat, it appeared to the captains of the frigates that fired on the boat that the occupants of the prince's boat were now dead. The captain of the lead frigate looked out into the water and grinned at the scene as the boat was destroyed. "Well, that takes care of that," was all he said before directing his ship to head back to join the main fleet that was heading towards Ordona Province.

A line of purple glowing sparks of energy descended from the sky and formed re-formed back into Link and Tetra, depositing them on a platform near the entrance to a subterranean structure. The entrance was currently blocked by a large stone with a Sheikah symbol emblazoned on it. A large number of torches surrounded the platform, indicating to Link that lighting them would open the entrance to the structure that Link was sure was the Shadow Temple that Tetra was referring to. There was also an air of gloominess about the place. Link turned and looked behind him to find a fence. He went to the fence, which would be difficult for him to scale, and looked down at the surrounding area. He saw lines of graves and gravestones. He looked back to Tetra and asked, "So, what next?"

"Next, you get out of that green tunic and hood and into some different clothes," Tetra answered in a perturbed tone.

Link raised his eyebrows, indicating that he did not understand why he had to change his clothes. This brought an, "uggh," from Tetra. "Link, your likeness is plastered over every wall in Hyrule that was under Daphnes' control!" she shouted, almost causing Link to recoil. "Every 'wanted' poster is going to have a picture of someone that resembles you. They'll state everything they know about you: your height, your weight, your hair and eye color, hair length, the _types of clothes that you wear_! They didn't take a pictograph of you so the people looking for you will be relying on other indicators to identify you. Your most identifiable feature is your green tunic and floppy hat. If a single soldier sees you, the jig is up."

"What can we do about that, though?" Link asked, beginning to become annoyed. "We're overlooking a graveyard and I don't have a change of clothes in my sack."

"Don't you have some armor in there?" Tetra asked in an annoyed tone.

"Only the sets of Magic Armor and Zora Armor," Link answered. "If I wear either of those, I'll stand out like a shining beacon."

The girl gave a humph as she slumped forward, defeated. "We're in a graveyard," she almost whined. "Get us down off this perch and take some clothes from one of the graves."

Link's eyes went wide. "You mean take the clothes off of a dead body and wear them?" He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"No, idiot!" Tetra screamed. "You go into a grave and take the clothes that were buried with the dead guys! This is the burial ground for Hyrule's Royal Family! There's bound to be clothing in there. And if there's a uniform of a high ranking officer or some other person, so much the better. At least it'll allow you to get into town and buy your own set of clothes."

"What about you?" the hero asked.

"Me? I'm good to go," Tetra answered. She then closed her eyes and suddenly, a cloak appeared over her dress and tiara. "Unlike you, I actually take time to plan ahead when I go out."

Link continued to gaze at her as she walked past him and used her magic to levitate herself over the fence and lower herself to the ground below the perch. He was beginning to be annoyed with the girl as she ignored him, letting him climb the fence himself and hope that he could jump down from it without injuring himself. He was successful in doing so and climbed the fence, managing to reach the other side. When he had lowered himself as far as he could, he let go of the fence and fell to the ground, landing on both feet, sustaining no injury, something that most Hylians would not be able to do. Once he was down, the two of them headed into the graveyard.

As they entered the graveyard, he looked at each of the graves. They were marked with the identities of various members of Hyrule's Royal Family. He wondered if one of the names was the Zelda of his time. He spent some time examining the gravestones and eventually came to a gravestone that had some flowers growing near it. Tetra came up from behind Link and gazed at the stone. "Well, aren't you going to go pull back the stone to see if there's anything down there?" she asked in an anxious tone. It was clear that she did not want to stay in the graveyard for an extended period of time, though it was mainly due to her wanting to get on with her objectives than any nervousness in being in a graveyard.

Link looked at the stone and then back at Tetra, who had an annoyed look on her face. "Oh come on you big baby!" she cried. "Just pull it back! What are you afraid of, Poes?"

"No," Link answered. "It's just that I don't like grave robbing."

"Well, the dead guy inside won't have any use for anything in there. Go in and find out if there's anything in there!"

Link was still hesitant and made no moves to enter the grave. "Ugh," Tetra groaned, defeated, and she quickly cast a spell on the gravestone, pushing it back and revealing a hole. Tetra then jumped down the hole and vanished into the underground dungeon. Link waited for some time and after three minutes had passed, Tetra emerged from the hole. On her back was a Hylian Shield and she also had a sack full of jewels. Link's eyes went wide with surprise at the girl's find.

"Finders keepers," Tetra taunted as she walked away from Link with a huge grin on her face. She then looked back and called, "Sorry but I didn't find any clothes for you down there. I didn't know your size or style, though. Anyway, maybe that hut over there will have some." She then pointed to a small hut. Link did not like the girl's thieving nature. First she had robbed a grave of a Hylian Shield and some jewels. While that did not seem to be a huge crime given that they were in need of supplies, the callous nature with which she had done so troubled him. However, stealing from a hut was an issue.

"Tetra, I don't think we should take anything from a hut. The clothes in there could belong to someone."

"Yeah, an enemy," Tetra retorted. "You know how people in Hyrule are. Anyway, if we find something your size, you can return it once you get your own clothes. Sheesh." She then headed off towards the small hut not too far from the grave.

Link gave a sigh and watched as Tetra went over to the small hut not too far from the grave. As she went to the hut, she scanned the stone path around the graves to make sure that there was no one on patrol. She had heard that a boy sometimes patrolled the area to keep people from raiding graves. Tetra knocked on the door to see if there was anyone inside. When there was no response, she focused on the door and a click sounded. She grinned as she then reached up and grabbed the doorknob. She turned it and then pushed the door open. Link sighed as he went up to the hut but also kept a lookout to see if anyone was approaching from the path that led out of the graveyard and into the village.

After a couple of minutes, Tetra emerged from the hut and told Link, "Link, I've found some clothes for you. Come in so you can change in privacy."

Link gave a sigh and went into the hut to change into new clothes. He could see where Tetra was coming from, trying to make him not look conspicuous, but he still felt as if a complete wardrobe change was unnecessary. Still, he changed into the clothes that Tetra had laid out for him. They consisted of a pair of pants and a blue tunic. They were designed for a man that was taller and wider than he was, so they fit loosely on him. There was a mirror inside the hut so he could examine his new look. The clothes were too loose on him and he realized that there was no way he would look normal in these clothes. He then took them off and put his Hero's Clothes back on, minus the floppy hat, which he placed in his sack. He hoped that without the hat, he would be more difficult to recognize.

Once he was finished, he exited the hut and went back to Tetra, who was no amused at by him still wearing his normal clothes, minus the floppy hat. He stared back at her and told her, "The other clothes did not fit me. It would have looked unnatural."

"Better to take your chances with loose fitting clothing and be able to say that you're a merchant who's down on his luck than to look just like the hero with only the floppy hat missing," Tetra complained harshly

"I'm willing to take that chance," Link answered, keeping a calm and even tone, which only seemed to fuel Tetra's annoyance.

Eventually, Tetra sighed and said, "Fine, have it your way. Just remember that if you are discovered, don't come whining to me for help, 'coz you won't get it."

"Fair enough."

Tetra then looked at Link sternly. "Link, before we go, we should have a plan. I don't plan on staying here in Kakariko for long."

"What do you have in mind?" Link asked.

"In order for us to be able to restore Hyrule, we're gonna have to head down to the center of the sunken kingdom beneath the sea. That's easier said than done since we don't have the necessary equipment to get down there, nor the coordinates of the Temple of Time, the Castle Town's Temple of Time, that is."

"Is there any way we can find the coordinates necessary to find the sunken Temple of Time?" Link asked.

Tetra grinned confidently. "Of course there is, silly," she answered, a little more playfully than Link would have expected. "We just need to buy some maps of the Great Sea as well as the previous Kingdom of Hyrule. There should be some map collectors and sellers in the village. At least I hope there are. I would hate to have had our only chance at finding the temple's location sink along with Hyrule Castle Island." She then took a breath before continuing. "Well, after we get the charts, we'll have to get a Zora Tunic."

"What's the Zora Tunic do?"

"It only allows a person to breathe underwater, moron," Tetra answered haughtily, as if it was supposed to be obvious. "Don't you know anything? And to think you were a great hero."

"Well, I've got something just as good, if not better," Link told her. He then took out his suit of Zora Armor. "This armor allows me to breathe underwater as well as swim indefinitely. Combined with Iron Boots, I can even walk along the seafloor."

"Great," Tetra quipped sarcastically. "What about me?!" she then screamed at the top of her lungs in a voice that would have been loud enough to wake the dead.

Link did not give an immediate answer, surprised that she was so angry. He had not anticipated her wanting to join him on the adventure down on the ocean floor. "You do know that I'll be going to the ocean floor."

"Of course, genius. And you'll need me to help you in the quest," the girl answered arrogantly.

"Tetra, we'll be underwater. I don't think we'll be able to play the ocarina."

"But the chamber that we'll be going to isn't gonna be flooded," Tetra answered. "At least not once I clear it out. Face it, Link, you're gonna need me on this one. And I'm gonna need that Zora Tunic to breathe down there."

"Do they make child size Zora Tunics?" Link asked.

"That's what you're gonna find out once you get down into the village," Tetra answered. "Oh, and before I forget," she added. "We also need a ship, preferably small but fast. It would be best if it's a sailing ship since most merchants can't afford a mechanized ship. Just make sure that it's armed."

"Right," Link answered, nodding. He then thought about Tetra's request and asked, "Are you sure you want a ship? It'll just be the two of us."

"Yes!" the princess screeched, causing the hero to recoil. "A boat'll draw too much suspicion. Besides, we need a ship since it'll need to mount a crane."

"Do we have enough money to buy a ship?" Link asked.

"I do," the girl answered slyly. "Don't know about you, though. But don't worry about me too much. You're the one footing the bill."

"How much would a ship like the one you want cost?"

"Probably on the order of ten to twenty thousand Rupees," the girl answered nonchalantly.

Link's eyes went wide, the hero barely able to contain his surprise. "Ten to twenty thousand Rupees?"

Tetra nodded, grinning the whole time.

"I don't have that kind of money on me," Link retorted. "I'm not sure I even have a thousand Rupees left with all of the money I used when I wore the Magic Armor against Daphnes and on my other adventures."

Tetra's grin promptly vanished and an anguished expression crossed her face. "Gods help me!" she cried. "Do I have to do everything on this stupid quest?"

She looked back at the hero, who showed no signs of either having the money or having any ideas on how he would be able to get the money necessary. She did notice that he seemed to be surprised at her behavior. She gritted her teeth as she realized that in order for this mission to succeed, that she would need to part with a hefty portion of her savings. Eventually, she acquiesced and said, "Fine, I'll loan you the money to pay for the ship. But you're gonna pay me back every single rupee, got it?"

"Yes," Link answered nodding.

"Good, now here's the money." She then handed Link a massive wallet with what looked to be a large number of Platinum Rupees. "These Platinum Rupees are worth one thousand Rupees each. There should be twenty thousand Rupees in that thing."

Link checked the wallet to make sure that the money that Tetra said would be there was, which brought a frown from the princess. "What, didn't trust me?" she scoffed.

Link gave no response.

"Well, just know that if you go over budget, you're paying the extra."

"Got it."

"Good, now let's get going. Since you're gonna be playing the part of the merchant, you'll be buying the ship. Just make sure that the ship is armed. Also make sure that after you buy the ship, you get enough ammunition for any weapons that the ship may carry. Also, while I'll foot the bill for the ship, you must buy everything else on your own. I'll go check for the maps and charts that could help us find the temple. You get everything else we'll need. That includes the Zora Tunic."

"Yes, Princess," Link answered, keeping any annoyance he was feeling towards her attitude out of his voice.

"One more thing," Tetra added. "When you go into town, you'll want to be known by a different name than Link since Link is now number one on Hyrule's Most Wanted list. Your new name for this will be…let's see…Bink!" she answered exuberantly. "It's close enough to your real name to allow you to explain yourself if someone calls out your real name and you turn around or respond to it. Besides, it's funny, and can be used as a short version of Binky."

"And what will your new name be?" Link asked, not pleased with the new name of Bink.

"I'll stay as Tetra," the princess answered. "You'd never remember any name close enough to it to sound similar without calling me by name, so here's the rule: you don't get to call me by name or rank. Just call me 'honey'."

"Understood," Link sighed as he had to keep himself from slumping forward with annoyance. While Tetra was quite annoying, the hero knew that he would need her help in order to restore Hyrule so he was willing to take her ill-treatment for the moment. Once they were ready, the two headed towards the sloped alley and walked down the grassy alley into the village.

When the two entered the village, they found that the town was bustling with activity. There were more people here than Link had expected to see. There were stalls on the sides of the streets selling all sorts of wares, with waves of customers examining and buying various items. It was not nearly as large as Hyrule Castle Island had been, but he could tell that there were shops in the area. There were also numerous brick buildings, each of which housed a business of some sort. To Link's left was an alley that he believed led to more businesses. He was not interested in the alley at the moment. He just wanted to look around town to get a lay of the town. He looked over at Tetra, who darted off to look at the stalls to see if any of them sold maps.

While the princess went about her business, Link proceeded to walk around town to look for any businesses that sold what he was looking for. He quickly came across a directory that showed him the locations of all of the businesses, their names, as well as what they sold. He saw that he was close to a high-end clothing store that sold a variety of clothing items, including armor. He decided that that store, Chalver's Clothing Emporium, would be the best place to look for another suit of Zora Armor, or even a Zora Tunic. Given Hyrule's attitude towards non-Hylians, he doubted that he would find a Zora Tunic in it, or any of the stores for that matter, but he decided to check anyway. The store may have also had a new clothing item or type of armor that could prove useful on the quest. He went up the store, which had a large neon sign over the door that read, _Chalver's Clothing Emporium_, and proceeded to make his way to the door. As he approached the door, he was stopped by a boy who looked to be no older than twelve.

"Excuse me, sir, but are you going into the store?" the boy asked.

Link nodded. "Yes."

"I can see that your shoes are not shined."

Link did not need to look down at his shoes to know this. He also remembered this from his own time. A merchant, who had been named Chudley, before changing it to Malver when Malo had taken over his store, had had a boy outside to shine the shoes of all potential customers. When Link did not say anything, the boy asked, "May I shine your shoes, sir? The proprietor does not like customers who do not appear to have a lot of money. And your clothes indicate someone who is not of the upper class. It will only cost ten Rupees."

"Thank you, but I'm fine," Link told the boy.

The boy departed from Link and returned to his chair a few feet away, disappointed as Link went into the store. At least with this store, he was able to enter without having sparklingly shiny shoes. Link looked back at the boy and wondered if he should have had his shoes shined. He then decided against it. He had a feeling that he would need all of the money he had on him at this time, especially if he was going to have to fight any more monsters or soldiers of Hyrule. Link then gripped the doorknob and went into the store.

When Link went into the store, he looked around and saw large racks of clothes. The clothes were of high quality and were almost certainly going to be expensive. However, he was not interested in the fashion of the upper class of Hyrule. He only wanted to know if the store had a Zora Tunic, particularly one in a child's size. He looked around to see if they had one but he could not find one in the racks of clothes. He then looked for the checkout counter to see if the shop's proprietor would be able to help him. He found the counter at the other end the store. At the counter sat a Hylian man of about forty years of age. He had short brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a white shirt and blue pants, with a blue coat on. Upon noticing Link, he called out to the potential customer, asking, "Hello there. Is there anything I can help you find?"

Link rushed up to the counter and answered, "Actually, yes, there is. Do you have a Zora Tunic in a child's size?"

The proprietor seemed to be taken aback. "A Zora Tunic?"

Link nodded.

"Why would you want one of those?"

"It's not for me, it's for my cousin," Link answered. "She likes to swim a lot, and I think that it could be used as a safety net of a sort."

"I'm sorry, but we don't have a Zora Tunic, and we especially don't have one in a child's size," the proprietor answered.

"Do you know where I could find one?" Link asked in a hopeful tone.

"Try Zora's Domain," the proprietor scoffed. "It _is_ a _Zora_ Tunic. We don't get stuff from inferior peoples." The proprietor did not bother to hide his contempt of the Zoras. Link did everything in his power to look natural and not let his anger reach the surface. He could not afford to let his true feelings be known. Anyway, there was no point in staying in this store. He would have to look for a Zora Tunic elsewhere. He then turned around and left the store, doing his best to look sad at not finding the tunic, but not angry about the proprietor's views of the Zoras.

Link made his way around the village, doing searching for any other store that might have rare equipment and weaponry. He was surprised that there were shops that sold actual weapons such as swords and bows and arrows. However, he found no shops that had any Zora Tunics, or knew any place in the town that had them. Even the kinder shop owners did not know where Link could find one other than Zora's Domain.

After exiting the shop, he proceeded to look for any businesses that would sell ships. As he was exploring the town, he noticed Tetra looking around, buying some maps. She soon noticed him and made her way up to him and took him aside into a small alley. He was surprised by her actions and asked, "Is something wrong Tetra?"

"I forgot to give you this earlier," the princess answered as she slipped him a piece of paper.

"What is this?" Link asked.

"This is an Explosives Permit. It will allow you to buy bombs in town and also buy and operate cannons and cannonballs."

Link nodded and slipped the paper into his pocket. Before leaving, Tetra told him, "There's a boat shop near the docks in the island's south. I hear there's a sale. Better get down there before the sale expires."

He nodded then made his way out of the alley and back into town, looking for the boat store. He made his way south to the docks. Behind one of the docks was a ship that looked like a paddle steamer. The ship was larger than Prince Daphnes' boat but was not anywhere close to being the size of a ship of the line. He went to a small building close to the docks. It was white and had a life buoy on the side of it along with the model of a boat. Link ran up to the building and quickly entered, noting that there was no line to get in. He hoped that he was not too late to get the boat for a sale price.

As he entered the shop he looked around the small store. There was a counter with a single Hylian male standing behind the boat. There were bookshelves on the walls that had a large number of small books and pamphlets. Link went up to the counter and the man looked at him and said, "Welcome to the Mako's Ship Shop. I'm Mako. How may I be of assistance?"

"Hello. I'm looking for a ship," the hero answered.

"Well you came at just the right time. I've got a durable paddle steamer at the docks just outside. It's a used ship but it does not have a lot of mileage on it. It's only been on a couple of cruises or so. It's still in good condition, though. Would you like to take a look?"

"Yes, thank you," Link answered.

Mako then led Link out a back door and to the docks. There were several workers working at the docks to keep them in good condition, along with a couple of soldiers keeping a lookout. Link looked out over the sea and found a series of towers jutting out from the water. He strongly suspected that the towers were armed with cannons and were part of the island's defenses.

Mako led them to the ship, which was a bit larger than Daphnes' personal boat that Link and Tetra had used to escape Hyrule Castle Island. It had a silver hull that was clearly made out of metal. As Mako had said, the ship looked durable and while Link hoped that he would not have to put the ship's durability to the test, he was comforted by the fact that it looked to be significantly stronger than any of the other boats that he had been on.

"What is the ship's history?" Link asked. Before making the buy, he wanted to make sure that there were no surprises in store for him.

"It's seen little action," Mako answered. "It was owned by a merchant named Linebeck but it was sold because he wanted to get a larger ship. You can board the ship and take a look to see what it is like for yourself."

"Thank you," Link answered. He then went up to the ramp that led to the ship. Walking up the ramp, he boarded the ship.

As he boarded the ship, he looked around the main deck as he saw several deckhands working on the ship to clean it up and make sure it was in working order. Link examined the outer hull and saw that there did not seem to be many signs of wear on it. He soon went into the command cabin at the rear of the ship and found a luxurious bed inside, along with a stairwell that led to the second deck of the bridge. He then stepped out of the cabin and onto the side deck and looked out at the ship. It looked to be in great working order. He then went to the bridge and looked at the control console. There was a button that was labeled, _cannon_. He pushed it and suddenly, a door slid back and opened up in the center of the main deck of the ship. A cannon extended from the door and pointed forward. The console indicated that the cannon did not have any ammunition, likely a safety precaution. He then pushed the button to retract the cannon and went back out onto the main deck. He then saw a button that was labeled, _crane_. He suspected that it was a salvaging crane. He pushed the button and a crane emerged from the rearmost part of the ship just before the bridge. He played with its controls to get a feel for operating it and then had it retract back below deck. After examining the handrails, anchor, and wheel, he made his way off the ship and back to Mako.

When he returned to Mako, the ship seller asked, "So, what do you think?"

"It looks to be a fine ship," Link answered. "However, I was wondering what type of ammunition the cannon used?"

"It uses normal cannonballs," Mako answered. "It can also fire rockets that have the appropriate width as well as armor piercing shells and rockets. There are also gun ports below the main deck that can be mounted with more cannons in case you're worried about facing pirate forces."

"Thank you," Link replied. "Do you have any cannons for the ship?"

"A couple," Mako answered. "But there is a bomb shop back in town on the western section of the island. It has a supply of cannons as well as cannon ammunition. However, I would include the cannons that I have. I have two 32 pounder cannons, plus a line of carronades designed for short range anti-ship and anti-crew use for the main deck, if you want, in the price for the ship. Since it's used, it's going to cost less than a new ship, even without all of the perks that this ship has."

"So how much will this ship cost?" Link asked.

"Well, it is used, but it does have a lot of materiel already on it. Including the ammunition for the cannon already on the ship, it'll cost six thousand Rupees."

Upon hearing the price, he was surprised that it was as little as it was. He was beginning to wonder if there was something that Mako was not telling him. Still, he began to think that since it was the only ship at the docks and that Mako was a ship seller, that he was trying to get rid of the ship. Link was tempted to haggle with the seller over the price but it was Tetra that was paying for the ship, so he decided that he was satisfied.

"I'll take it," Link told Mako, extending his hand. Mako took it and they shook. "I'll also want the available cannons to be mounted in the gun ports, along with a few anti-personnel cannons for the main deck in case my crew and I have to deal with pirates."

"You've made a good buy, Link," Mako said, smiling. "All told, with the ship plus additional armaments, the price will be eight thousand Rupees."

Link was surprised by the price increase, but Mako told him that the prince increase was due to the weaponry that he was buying. He could see that, especially since it appeared as if weapons fell strictly under the control of the government. "I'll have the technicians and workers install the cannons and add the ammunition. The whole thing should take an hour or so."

"Thank you," Link said.

"You're welcome," the ship seller answered. Mako then handed Link a sheet of paper and told him, "Sign here."

Link did so and handed it back to Mako. He then handed Mako the eight thousand Rupees. Mako gladly accepted the money and then handed him a slip of paper and said, "Here is the receipt for the ship and its weaponry. Keep it close. It's your proof of purchase and will protect you should something happen to the ship."

"Thank you," Link said again.

"You're welcome," Mako answered.

Once the transaction was completed, the hero went back into the town square and headed towards the western section of the island. He walked a few hundred yards towards a nondescript building off in the distance. There was what looked to be a large ball on top of the sign that read, _Kakariko Bomb Shop_. Link was suspicious when he saw the sign. There was no way that Hyrule would allow a merchant to sell explosives. Still, he saw that it also presented quite an opportunity and that he would not get another one. He went over to the shop and entered it.

The interior of the shop was sparsely furnished. There was a counter at the end of the room, along with a wall behind it with a variety of bombs and grenades. There were also large crates next to the counter as well as a large fireplace and what looked to be an oven behind the counter. As he walked towards the counter, a man with two tufts of white hair emerged from behind the oven and walked up to the counter holding a bomb. "Welcome to the Bomb Shop. Before we proceed with any transactions, I'll have to see your permit."

Link presented him with the slip of paper that Tetra had given to him. The shopkeeper looked at it closely and after a few moment, said, "Okay, then, it seems as if everything checks out." He then handed the paper back to Link. "Again, welcome to the Bomb Shop. I've got a large selection of inventory. Feel free to look around at the merchandise."

Link did so and noticed that the shop had a large selection of merchandise. There were rows of normal bombs, Bombchus, grenades, and Water Bombs. He also saw a line of cannons. He focused his attention on the cannons, which caught the attention of the shop's proprietor. "So you're interested in the cannons," the proprietor began. "Those are 32 pounder cannons. They are among the best anti-ship weapons that can be mounted on a ship. Do you have a ship?"

Link nodded.

"Then you'd do well to buy a couple. They're five hundred Rupees apiece."

Link considered how many cannons that the ship would be able to hold. Knowing that he wanted some carronades and smaller cannons to be mounted on the main deck, he was hoping that the weaponry on his ship would not make his ship appear to be too threatening, and thus, draw too much attention to him. In the end, he decided that two cannons would suffice.

"I'll take two cannons," he told the shopkeeper. "I'll need them to be delivered to the dock so they can be mounted onto my ship."

"The cannons, plus delivery and mounting will cost a total of fifteen hundred Rupees," the shopkeeper answered. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Link examined the rest of his arsenal. He decided to fill out the rest of his bomb bags. He them all to capacity with normal bombs, Water Bombs, and Bombchus, for the bomb shop did not have any Bomblings available. As soon as he had made the purchases, he departed the bomb shop and returned to the town square to wait for Tetra.

He did not have to wait long for Tetra to arrive. When she did so, he saw her holding a series of scrolls as well as the grin that was splitting her face. "You were successful," Link stated.

Tetra's grin widened even more. "Of course I was," she answered. "I got the map to both Ancient Hyrule as well as the Great Sea. I talked to the mapmaker I bought these from and he helped me identify the exact location of the Temple of Time. All we need is that ship and the Zora Tunic and we'll be good to go."

"I've found a good, albeit used, ship," Link informed her as they began to walk down to the docks. "It's smaller than a warship but it's sturdy enough to hold together. It is made of metal and is armored. It comes with two cannon and is steam powered. I bought some more cannons for the ship for the journey ahead, especially if we end up getting caught by any pirates or naval vessels."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Tetra replied. "The Temple of Time is in the middle of the ocean at the moment. It's nowhere close to any supply lines so we should be in the clear. Now what about my Zora Tunic?"

"Unfortunately, I was unable to find a Zora Tunic, in any size."

"How the hell am I supposed to get down there without a Zora Tunic?!" Tetra screeched, causing many bystanders to turn and face the duo as they walked through the town towards the docks.

Link looked down at Tetra nervously and tried to gently cover her mouth, saying, "Calm down. You're making a scene."

"And you're a brainless idiot! There are dozens of clothing stores here? How can it be that not one of them has a Zora Tunic?"

"Perhaps because Hyrule hates the Zoras and don't want any of their equipment," Link answered calmly. This did nothing to calm the princess.

"So what now, idiot boss?"

"I could go down to the Temple of Time and restore Hyrule myself, assuming it's possible for a single person to do so with the right equipment," Link suggested.

"Which it's not," Tetra retorted. "I can't teach you to play the Ocarina of Time. You've never played an instrument before."

"I've played grass whistles," Link offered.

"Worthless," was Tetra's only response. "Besides, it'll take you too long to learn the Song of Time and the path through the barrier. I'd take your Zora Armor but it's too big for me." She then slumped forward and moaned. "It's all going wrong."

"Well, we could always go over to Zora's Domain and see if the Zoras have a Zora Tunic in a child's size. I think it would also be wise to go there because there may be other items we could use from there, too. We may be able to get some Iron Boots since they'll be necessary to walk on the seafloor."

"Great," Tetra retorted sarcastically. "Us go to Zora's Domain up in the north, where a large part of Hyrule's home fleet is massing for an attack on Zora's Domain. Yeah, brilliant idea. Take us into the middle of a battle where we're likely to get blown to pieces. There are worse ways to die than to have Hyrule's navy shoot our ship out from underneath us. Oh wait, that's how we wound up here in the first place. And we'll be fresh out of ships!"

"Do you have a better idea?" Link asked, looking down at Tetra, almost glaring at her. Her screechy voice was beginning to grate on his nerves. There was only so much verbal abuse that he could take.

Link's question took her aback. She tried to think of something that would allow them to get what she needed. She considered whether or not her magic would allow her to breathe underwater. Perhaps she could buy a pair of Iron Boots and slap them on and use Nayru's Love to create a barrier for her to breathe. She nixed that idea as there would not be enough air for the long trip. Eventually, she had to admit that she had no other ideas and she shook her head in answer to Link's question.

"Fine," Tetra screamed. "We'll do it your way, _Binky_."

Link let the insult slide off of him as he then led her to the docks, the princess mumbling and grumbling along the way. She whined about how the ship had undoubtedly set her back more than she wanted to think. When they arrived at the docks, Link saw Mako standing by the ship as the workers were finishing the installation of the carronades on the main deck. Link looked at the two cannons jutting out from the gun deck on the port side and gave a satisfied smile. "Magnificent, isn't she?" Mako asked.

Link nodded. Tetra, however, seemed less than impressed.

"That's our new ship?" the girl roared. "Binky, you're a jerk!" Link made no reaction as Mako backed away a few steps. "How much did that travesty of a wreck cost, Binky?"

"All told, eight thousand Rupees," Mako answered, grinning.

"Eight, freaking thousand?" the girl roared in a voice that seemed to be too loud for a girl of ten years. "For a used wreck? How could you get swindled like that?"

"The ship has a metal hull," Mako unwisely volunteered, earning a venomous glare from Tetra.

"Shut your mouth, idiot!" came the girl's screech.

She then turned her attention, and her wrath, back on Link. "We wanted a mechant's vessel, not a mini-warship, idiot!" she reproached. "We need to haul cargo to make money. We can't do that if we're weighed down with a ton of weaponry."

"But there are pirates out at sea," Link replied waveringly.

"They don't use warships, moron!" Tetra roared.

The girl continued to glare as the last of the workers departed the ship. Mako, standing at a distance, said, "The ship is all set and ready to go. We've fueled her and provided armaments for the cannons. She's all yours, Binky." Mako did not know Link's name, so he took Tetra's insult to be Link's real name, or the only one he would care to know. As soon as Tetra had begun to calm down, the duo boarded the ship.

Once they were onboard the ship, the two examined the ship once more from stem to stern. Tetra grumbled during most of the inspection but had calmed down by the time she had seen the bridge and the bed not too far away from the control console. Her eyes lit up at the luxurious bed and she jumped right into it. "Mine!" she proclaimed as she sprawled across the bed. "You may sleep on the floor, Binky, or rather, _Captain_ Binky."

"We're on the ship now," Link told her.

"I know," she answered with a grin.

He went over to the control console and saw that a key was inserted in the ignition. He turned the key and the engine started up. There was a vibration throughout the cabin, which caused Tetra to sigh with pleasure. The ship's vibration was fun for her. Once the ship was started, Link checked all of the systems and made certain that the anchor was raised. It was and he then checked to make sure that the main cannon and the crane were operating properly. They were and with that, he was ready to depart. Turning the wheel, he brought the ship about and directed it out into the open ocean. Once he had done so, he powered the throttle and the engine rose in pitch and volume as the ship powered its way through the water, heading north. They were finally underway.

As Link directed the ship north, following the compass, he looked back at Tetra and asked, "Could I see those maps? I'm not familiar with the Great Sea."

Tetra smirked. "Of course you're not, newbie." She then got off the bed and went over to Link's station. She then opened the map for him and told him, "This X," pointing to the X on the map, "was our location the moment we left Kakariko Island. All we have to do is go due north and we'll eventually reach Zora's Domain. We'll know it by the ships that are surrounding it, along with the watchtowers jutting out from the water. The Hyrulean Navy has also added buoys to the sea lanes that lead up to Zora's Domain as well. It's rare, but some merchants do travel to Zora's Domain to hawk their items. Most of these merchants are pretty desperate, though, and they may not think twice about going after this ship. Do we have enough fuel to reach Zora's Domain?"

Plenty," Link answered. He then looked at the map and saw several black markings on it that were too small to be islands. "What are these markings?" Link asked.

"They're fuel depots for merchants," Tetra answered. "They're for the rare merchant that uses coal fuel. They are also used by the Hyrulean Navy. Let's not use them just yet since you're just a beginner."

"You seem to know a bit about sailing," Link commented.

Tetra then grinned. "Yes, I did have to study it before Hyrule fell. I also learned how to read maps." She then looked at him and then surprised Link by offering, "Let me take over for a bit. You're undoubtedly tired and I know more about the Great Sea than you. If I'm to get this tunic, I'll need to get us to the proper destination. You can worry about the other stuff once we get there."

Before Link could give an answer, Tetra unceremoniously pushed him away from the console and taking the seat. Link backed away and went to the bed and studied Tetra. The way she was treating him surprised him, despite the fact that she was royalty, and related to someone like Daphnes. She had the temper of a ten year old and did nothing to control it, but she was still willing to help him on his quest, even though she also belittled him at times. Still, while he had no magic, he could sense a darkness about her. Looking at her intensity as she guided the ship towards Zora's Domain, he put his guard up. She was nothing like the Zelda of his time, or even Midna before she had warmed up to him. She was behaving worse than that.

As if sensing that she was being studied by the hero, she turned back to him and focused her gaze on him. "What is it?" she asked. Her tone, this time, was calm and even kind.

"Oh, I just wondered how long it would likely take for us to reach Zora's Domain."

"It'll probably take us all day and most of the night to reach it," Tetra answered in a non-condescending voice. "We'll take shifts. You can use this time to rest up. Feel free to use the bed. Just make sure you change the sheets."

Link smiled and nodded, deciding to accept Tetra's offer. He marveled at how her personality had suddenly changed. Maybe it was the bed in this cabin. He did not dwell on it, he simply used this opportunity to get some much needed rest while Tetra drove the ship towards Zora's Domain. They both wanted to be at full strength upon arriving at Zora's Domain, for they had a feeling that the Hyrulean Navy would be there, too.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Link awakened to Tetra's grumbling as their ship made its way to Zora's Domain. "Damn it. Why can't this thing go any faster?" she complained as she gripped the wheel, spinning it to make course corrections. "That fool didn't need to buy so many cannons. It's not like we'll be running into any pirates out here and if we were more lightly armed, Hyrule would not have any reason to suspect us of anything, even if we were going to Zora's Domain."

Link gave a sigh as he closed his eyes once more. This was not the first time Tetra's audible grumbling had disturbed his rest. He had gotten used to her complaining and just shrugged it off. He began to think she did it just to annoy him. Still, he had a bad feeling about the girl. Had she not been so young, he would have been far more suspicious of her grumbling and cursing, but he outwardly chalked it up to a ten year old's impatience. Inwardly, though, he was growing more concerned about how similar she was to Prince Daphnes, at least in her speech. There was little he could do about it now, though. He needed her and she needed him. He just settled back into the bed to get some more rest before they approached Zora's Domain.

He awakened a couple hours later to the sound of cannon fire and a cheer from Tetra. He jumped out of the bed and looked out the window to his right and found a ship sinking a few dozen yards away. Judging from its size, he guessed that it was a corvette of some sort. Its sails had a skull and crossbones symbol on it, indicating that it was a pirate vessel. Looking out the window to his left, he found another ship sinking, this one being much closer to his ship. Another boom sounded and he saw the bodies, or rather, their pieces, falling into the water with a splash. "Oh, yeah, dead shot Tetra strikes again!" Link heard the girl whoop from above.

After a few moments, she went back to the bridge and saw that Link was awake. "Finally up, huh? Good. If that cannon fire didn't wake you up, I'd have thought you dead or comatose."

"Did we take any damage?" Link asked, already knowing that the ship had been attacked by pirates.

"Not a scratch," Tetra answered exuberantly. "I should join the navy once Hyrule's saved. I'm a great sailor," she quipped.

"Did any pirates manage to board the ship?"

"A few," Tetra answered with a mischievous grin. "But I dealt with them easily enough." She then gave off a low chuckle.

Link nodded and then went to the control station, being fully rested and now awake. He looked at the clock, as well as the map, and found that they should have been arriving at Zora's Domain not too long from now. He guessed that they should find it within the hour. He gazed at the map to see if there were any islands of note that would be good guideposts and then out over the sea. He saw no islands save for jagged rocks sticking out from the ocean. Still, he had a feeling that he was on the right track, so maneuvering around the rocks, he continued on his journey to Zora's Domain.

The trip to Zora's Domain took only an hour and a half longer. During that time, the ship had been accosted by pirate ships twice, only for him and Tetra to repel the pirates each and every time. A third attempt by pirates to take the ship came in the form of boarders who swam out in the sea and climbed the sides of the ship. They had been detected by the two shipmates and dealt with easily, a single carronade volley killing most of the boarders and other pirates in the sea coming towards the ship, with those that managed to board the ship being killed by Link and Tetra in sword to sword combat and by means of Tetra's vicious fire and lightning magic.

After the final wave of pirates had been dealt with, the duo continued on their journey. They knew that they were getting close, though, when they spied vessels from the Hyrulean Navy patrolling the area. As they sailed through the lanes, they were stopped twice by navy vessels bearing the flag of Hyrule. Link, who was not wearing his hood and still had his Hylian Shield in his sack, calmly approached the ships making no sudden movements. When the officers looked over the decks of their ships, he looked up at them casually. He had Tetra retract the cannons as they passed the ships so as to not show any signs of hostility towards the naval vessels. Also, since Tetra still wore her cloak and did not show any of her jewelry, also went unrecognized by the naval officers.

After passing the checkpoints, and once they were well away from the patrols, Tetra took Link aside and told him. "This is bad. There aren't usually this many ships out on patrol this far north. They're too scared of being sunk by guerilla attacks made by Zora warriors. This means that they're not messing around anymore. They're making their big push against the Zoras."

"How many ships can we expect to face?"

"I don't know," the girl answered. "I've heard that before Daphnes died that he sent as many as a hundred ships to deal with a province just outside of Hyrule. However, I don't know if that is all in ships of the line or if it also takes into account troopships, escorts and cargo vessels."

"What's the total number of ships that Hyrule has?"

"Over a thousand," Tetra answered. "But most of them are away fighting in the war between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopa Kingdom. At first, Hyrule was fighting alongside the Mushroom Kingdom against the Koopas because the Koopas' king wanted to conquer the world, including Hyrule. However, I've heard recent rumors that the king has discovered something and is now fighting against the Mushroom Kingdom."

"How many would stay back to protect Hyrule?"

"About two hundred or so, give or take," Tetra answered. "Most of them would be weaker ships that are fast yet heavily armed enough to deal with the various pirate and rebel forces that are spread about the Great Sea. However, there would still be some of the heavier ships of the line to deal with any real organized resistance movement or rebellion, especially with the king having been gone for so long."

"Some were almost certainly lost when Hyrule Castle Island sank."

Tetra nodded. "And more have been lost to Zora attacks and during the reunification of Hyrule," she added. She then glanced over at Link and concluded, "Since Zora's Domain is an important part of Lanayru Province, I'd guess that we'd face at least two dozen ships, with the possibility of facing up to fifty ships depending on how bad things got."

"That's a lot for us to try to run," Link said warily.

"That's why a faster ship would have been of more use to us than a more heavily armed or armored vessel," Tetra told him, raising her voice, still unwilling to let Link off the hook for arming their ship too heavily.

Link could understand her position but he had a feeling that the extra firepower and armor would come in handy and may have been why they had not encountered too many pirate vessels, especially after they sunk the first group they had faced. The duo continued to make their way north when they came across a series of small island rocks that were jutting out of the water. There did not seem to be anything of interest on the islands, so they promptly made their way past the islands and continued towards Zora's Domain, knowing that they were close.

Once the rocky spires of Zora's Domain were within visual distance, Link and Tetra looked out over the horizon and saw the very sight that Tetra had dreaded. Close to the horizon, they saw the shapes of what looked to be a dozen ships. Tetra went to the console and grabbed a telescope and looked into it. The vision merely confirmed her fears. Putting the eyepiece down, she turned to Link and appraised him of the situation. "I spy at least a dozen ships of the line cruiser-class and stronger. Each of the ships also has an escort with them of the corvette class. This isn't gonna be easy."

Link took out his Hawkeye and put it on. He saw the same thing that Tetra had seen. The cruisers looked to be intimidating. What was worse was the fact that they were metallic ships, rather than the wooden ships that he had faced during his escape and had faced several times earlier. The escorts were smaller, though, with none of them looking larger than a corvette-class ship, with most of them being made out of wood or of a relatively weak metal. And this was only the part of the fleet that was in visual range in front of them. With the size of the Great Sea and how it now surrounded Zora's Domain, chances were that more ships were on the other side of the domain, likely within quick striking distance should the fleet that was visible fall under attack.

"So, what's the plan?" Tetra asked in an annoyed tone.

_So now she wants me to come up with the plan_, Link thought. He looked out over the sea and considered his options. He could attempt to go around the fleet and hope to be get to Zora's Domain undetected, but he had a feeling that that plan would have small chance of success. He could not see any chance of defeating the fleet in a ship-to-ship engagement. The cruisers undoubtedly had superior range and firepower. He may have been able to deal with two or three ships quickly if he caught them off guard and got extremely lucky with his hits. With the metallic ships, even hitting them on the waterline was not a guaranteed kill unless he either hit them in their powder magazine or had hit them with a high explosive rocket, and he only had one rocket launcher, the retractable cannon that could fire multiple types of ammunition. He could also try to get through the blockade by acting as a merchant, but his ship had little cargo. Tetra might know more about that potential so he asked, "What if we played the role of merchants trying to sell wares to the Zoras?"

"And what would we sell, stupid? We don't have any wares!"

"We do have some ammunition for the cannons," Link offered.

Tetra gave a sarcastic laugh. "Weapons," she half sighed. "You want us to pass as arms dealers?"

"We could say that we were attacked by thieves and pirates. It would be true. Besides, we've used enough ammunition to make any story of a battle with pirates sound plausible."

"And they would ask how we survived the battle. And that's assuming they don't blow us out of the water for being arms dealers in the first place. Besides, weaponry would be the first thing the pirates would have stolen."

"We do have some food," the hero offered. "We could say that we're going to sell Hyrulean foodstuffs to the Zoras."

"Which we'll need for the return trip," Tetra scoffed. "Besides, we don't have enough to pass muster with the Hyrulean Navy. Given our supply levels, it would look more like we were the ones looking for food."

"So what do you suggest?"

"We could try to run the blockade," the girl suggested. Her eyes then glowed and she looked ahead at the fleet. As Tetra scanned the scene before her, Link focused on their more immediate surroundings to make sure that they were not caught off guard. So far the fleet was acting normally, as if it had not detected them, or did not care about their arrival. For a second, he considered cutting power so as to stay as far away as possible so that they would have more time to plan their next move, but he decided against it for fear that when they did move that the fleet would take more of an interest in them, so he decided to keep moving towards the fleet, albeit at a relatively slow and relaxed speed, as if he did not want to get caught up in anything, but still had some business with the Zoras.

After a minute or so, the glow in Tetra's eyes died and she quickly turned towards Link. "Link, there's a weakness in their lines. To the left, there's only a single cruiser protecting a flank leading to a dock in Zora's Domain. We can either sail past it or take it down and then quickly get into Zora's Domain and get a tunic."

Link considered that that was as good a place as any to start. It was even better that they were near a dock. He only hoped that they would not be detected, or could trick the cruiser into allowing them to pass. He hoped that they would not have to fight the cruiser, for he doubted that their ship would be a match for the cruiser.

Link guided the ship towards the weakness in the lines, charting a path towards the docks when he saw clouds of smoke rise from the cruiser. A second or so later, he heard loud booms. He soon saw explosions rock the island. The cruiser was firing on the island. He quickly used his Hawkeye to scan the surrounding area and saw that the taskforce that the cruiser was a part of was launching an assault on the island.

The hero promptly went into action, powering the throttle and deploying the main cannon. This caused Tetra to grow more than a little concerned. "Link, what are you doing?"

"I have to help the Zoras," Link answered as he targeted the cruiser. He hoped that the cruiser was too busy focusing on the island to notice his ship.

"Our goal is to get a Zora Tunic, not take on a fleet," Tetra retorted. "If we fight the cruiser, even if we take it down with one hit with a lucky shot, it will almost certainly alert the rest of the fleet to the fact that something's wrong."

"Then we'll have to prepare for a protracted battle," Link answered. "I'm not abandoning the Zoras."

"But we can't fight off an entire fleet!" the princess protested.

Link was not listening, though, as he targeted the cruiser. So far, the much larger ship had not noticed Link's much smaller ship. He hoped that it was because the smaller ship was not even the size of a corvette. Still, he did not care. The cruiser was close and he knew that taking it down could possibly give the Zoras time. Controlling the cannon from the bridge, he told Tetra, "Load the cannon with a rocket. We'll need to hit that cruiser with our strongest weaponry if we're going to take it out."

The princess gave off a grunt but did as Link bade. She loaded the rocket into the cannon and told Link, "Extend the cannon all the way up. You don't want to burn my face off with the rocket's back blast."

Link nodded and did as Tetra directed, extending the cannon to its full height so the rocket's back blast would not fry Tetra or damage the ship, itself. Link carefully aimed the cannon so that he had a bead on the cruiser. Once he was certain of his aim, he pushed the button and the rocket erupted from the launcher. The rocket's engine sent a jet of flame rushing past the top of the bridge as the rocket leapt from the launcher.

The rocket streaked towards the cruiser, the enemy ship not having enough time to react before the missile had crossed the distance between Link's small ship and the massive cruiser. The missile struck the side of the stern of the ship and exploded, blowing a massive hole into the vessel. Metal and fire were ejected from the new hole blown into the ship and there was a series of subsequent explosions inside the vessel. The explosion had lit the powder magazine and the rear half of the ship exploded. The front half of the ship listed upwards and then sank into the ocean. It took less than thirty seconds for the ship to sink.

Once the ship had sunk, Link looked out at the sea and saw a number of longboats moving away from the sunken ship towards the island that made up Zora's Domain. As he saw the boats moving towards the island, he saw several clouds of smoke rise from the island. It was a couple of seconds before the booms of cannon fire sounded. The Zoras were fighting back. He put on his Hawkeye and looked out at the other ships within visual range. Two ships took hits to the sides of their hull, the cannonballs blowing holes into the ships' hulls. The ships quickly returned fire but did not seem to score any significant hits, overshooting their targets since Link saw explosions erupt from behind the cannons deployed on the island. The Zoras fired again and sunk one of the damaged ships. The other ship took a few more hits and suffered significant damage to its hull, the metal deforming with each strike and several breaches being visible to Link's eyes. The ship promptly moved away from the island, returning fire and managing to hit one of the cannons, smashing the weapon and sending Zoras flying through the air. A third volley destroyed the second cruiser. As for the other ships, Link could see them massing away from the island and firing on it, only for their fire to fall short, the balls and shells splashing in the water, sending up jets of water over a dozen meters away from shore. There the ships remained. It appeared to the hero as if the Zoras' cannons at the very least had the same range as their Hyrulean counterparts, or were actually superior to their enemies. That was when the larger ships started to deploy longboats and motorboats, figuring that the smaller boats would be more difficult for the anti-ship cannons to target and destroy. That left another issue for Link and the Zoras to deal with: the motorboats were armed with cannons of their own. Despite the threat posed by the smaller boats, he did not see anyone firing at the approaching boats.

"We have to help them," Link stated as he went to the ship's wheel and directed it towards the smaller boats, hoping to take some of them down. Tetra was less than enthusiastic about the plan.

"Are you nuts?" she blurted in contest, gripping the wheel. "We have a clear avenue to the docks, we should get there now!"

"And what happens once those motorboats attack the defense cannons of the Zoras?" Link retorted. "They'll be able to land troops with impunity and fire on the island, itself."

"All we need is that tunic!" Tetra declared. "We're here for the greater good of Hyrule, not to save a single domain. Not all Zoras are in Zora's Domain, and we're of no use to everyone else dead."

"I know that," Link answered. "But you have to understand that if the defenses are taken out, then you may never get the Zora Tunic that you need."

Tetra arched her eyebrows and turned to Link, giving him a questioning look. The hero turned to her and looked her in the eyes. "Tetra, there is a very real chance that the Zoras don't make child-size Zora Tunics. If that's the case, you would need a Zora to make one specifically for you. The only way that happens is if the Zoras survive this attack. In fact, you may even end up getting it for free if we manage to drive off the attack since you'll be seen as a hero."

Tetra's eyes lit up at Link's explanation and an expression of utter glee crossed her face. Suddenly, the hero was wishing that he had chosen his words a little more carefully, for if the Zoras did not make a tunic for her, or they charged an arm and a leg for it, he would have a very powerful and very unhappy princess to contend with, and she would almost certainly blame him for getting her hopes up. He continued to focus on her and her expression soured once again.

"What are you standing around for? Get us to those longboats so we can sink them!" she cried.

Link sprang into action as he went to the control console for the ship and began guiding the boat towards the longboats and motorboats that were headed towards Zora's Domain. Once he got into the control seat and was guiding the ship towards the island, he told Tetra, "Get up on deck. We're going into the line of fire of any ships that will be in our sector and we'll need the protection of Nayru's Love. Also, I wouldn't mind some more firepower being directed against the longboats so we'll want some forward firing carronades."

"Got it," Tetra answered. As she exited the bridge and went onto the main deck, he could hear her mutter, "Looks like the extra weaponry he got for the ship may come in handy after all."

Link could not help but smile. His foresight had been proven correct. He studied the layout over the sea as Tetra moved some of the carronades towards the bow so they could fire on the longboats. Since the longboats were made of wood and the motorboats were not the sturdiest of seafaring craft, the smaller anti-personnel cannons would likely be sufficient to sink the enemy boats. Still, Tetra made certain to use heavier shot than the grapeshot that was usually fired from the carronades. Still, as Tetra dragged two of the carronades forward, she did not yet deploy Nayru's Love. She wanted to wait until the last possible moment before using the spell, for she knew that once she did so, she would need to put all of her energy into the spell for what would almost certainly be a protracted battle.

As the ship approached Zora's Domain, Link noticed that the ships that were forming a blockade around the island were not firing on him despite the fact that he was well within their weapons range. He continued to look around the area and even peered out the window to see if there was anything that he had missed but could find nothing. It was not until he looked up into the sky and found several Kargaroks coming towards the ship that he realized what was happening. Looking out over the ships, he saw several of the birds take off from their decks as well. He and Tetra were going to be bombarded from the air.

"Tetra, raise the shield now! They're sending Kargaroks against us!" Link called out in warning.

Tetra nodded and shrugged, hoping that the battle would not have started until they had gotten a little closer to the island. Still, she did as Link bade and stood stock still, closing her eyes. As she closed her eyes, she cupped her hands and remained still for a few seconds. After a few seconds, she opened her hands and the blue diamond formed from her hands and grew. It first encompassed the girl and then began to expand until it surrounded the entire ship. As soon as the spell had fully activated, the first of the Kargaroks arrived and made their attack run.

The first group of birds dove down upon the shielded vessel carrying bombs in their talons. Once they were close enough to the ship, they dropped their bombs onto the ship, targeting the girl. The bombs, however, struck the shield and exploded prematurely. Fire and shrapnel splashed against the shield but did not pierce it or even weaken it. Nayru's Love was such a powerful spell that if it was not pierced, it did not suffer any damage at all, and it would take a Light Spirit or stronger to pierce a Nayru's Love shield. As the Kargaroks passed, one of them not pulling up in time and crashing into the shield, practically disintegrating upon impact, both Tetra and Link noticed that there seemed to be Hyrulean soldiers riding them. Link had only seen something like this one before, and that was with a Shadow Kargarok and a Shadow Bulblin from when Twilight had pervaded the Light World.

Tetra grinned as she went over to one of the carronades that had not been armed with light anti-ship weaponry and still had a crate full of grapeshot canisters next to it. She loaded one of the canisters into the cannon and waited for the next group of Kargaroks to make their run, taking aim at them. Using her magical sight, she clearly saw the Hylian soldiers guiding the birds as they went to make their attack run on Link and Tetra's ship. Once they were within range, Tetra opened fire. The shot erupted from the cannon and fanned out as it left the barrel. Two of the Kargaroks, along with their Hylian riders, were practically disintegrated upon the firing of the cannon. Two others were shot down with numerous wounds and another suffered severe enough injury to be taken down and crash into the water, the pilot being killed by suffering a hit from one of the metal balls. As Tetra saw the birds, along with pieces of bird, fall from the sky, she gave a loud cheer. "Dead shot Tetra strikes again!" she cried.

Link did not like the mirth in her eyes as she had killed the Kargaroks and their pilots, but he would not dwell on that at the moment. He had more important things to worry about. Another wave of Kargaroks dove towards the ship dropping bombs and even some large Powder Kegs. The shield absorbed the explosions and suffered no damage, though. Tetra had also quickly loaded the carronade with a canister shot round and fired on the Kargarok squad. This shot did not disintegrate any of the Kargaroks, or their riders, but its greater spread allowed it to take down more Kargaroks. Six birds were grouped closely together and they were all taken down with another two suffering enough injury that they flew towards land or back to the Hyrulean ships so as to heal, those that could still fly. Tetra let out another cheer. The duo scanned the skies but could find no more Kargaroks.

Link then focused his attention towards the longboats once more and saw fish-like humanoids leaping from the water and into the boats. Link immediately recognized them as Zoras. They leapt out from the water like a dolphin breaching and landed in the longboats, immediately rolling into the rowers and then fighting them in hand to hand combat. Most of the rowers were either unarmed or did not have easy access to their weapons and were quickly overwhelmed by the skill of the Zoras. Fins grew from the elbows of the aquatic warriors and they used them to impale the Hylian rowers and soldiers that were caught off guard by their attack. Some of the soldiers were able to draw their weapons and strike at the Zoras, felling a few of them, but the Zoras were too many, and they just kept coming. For every Zora warrior slain, two more rose up in his or her place. After a short while, all of the personnel on the targeted longboat were either slain or cast overboard and the Zoras took control of the boat. Link looked out over the scene and could tell that the same thing was happening with the other longboats as well. Some of the motorboats were also under assault from the Zora soldiers. It was beginning to look as if his help would not be needed after all and he would just be able to relax and possibly minimize the Zora casualties, rather than save the species from the attack. That would soon change, though.

Link looked up into the sky once more and quickly spotted another flight of Kargaroks diving towards the longboats now under the control of the Zoras. The birds carried bombs and powder kegs in their talons. They dove towards the Zoras and dropped their payloads onto the longboats. Several bombs missed the boats and their fuses were drowned as they fell into the water, deactivating them. Some, however, managed to land on the boats and blow them apart. Most of the Zoras had managed to dive into the water before the bombs had landed on them boats, though. As for the motorboats, the Zoras that had managed to take control of them used their cannons and the rifles wielded by the soldiers to shoot at the Kargaroks. Most of their shots went wild due to the evasive maneuvers performed by the birds, but a few managed to find their mark and take down the birds. Any Kargarok that was hit with a cannonball, however, was literally shattered. However, the large number of Kargaroks quickly overwhelmed the Zoras and forced them to abandon their newly captured boats or join them in death. However, some Zoras did not go down without a fight, for several of the Zora controlled motorboats swiveled their cannons towards the birds.

The Zoras zeroed in on the birds and loaded canister shot into their cannons. They then fired on the Kargaroks, small lead balls erupting from the cannons as the boats fired in volley. The entire flight of Kargaroks was destroyed, with several of them suffering multiple severe injuries from the cannon volley. The bombs and kegs being carried by the birds were either dropped into the water as the birds fell, or exploded from taking a hit from the shots, destroying the birds carrying them, as well as killing their riders and the birds next to them. Still, more Kargaroks quickly rose from the Hyrulean ships and flew towards the captured boats. The Kargaroks formed squadrons of twelve and dove straight into the line of captured boats.

The Zoras quickly reloaded their cannons and the captured rifles and few bows and arrows that the soldiers had carried. Targeting the Kargaroks, they opened fire well before the birds were within range of their bombing runs. Ten Kargaroks and their riders were killed and fell into the water. The surviving two of the first squadron proceeded with their attack run on the boats, but most of the Zoras managed to abandon their boats before the birds managed to drop their bombs. However, before the birds could drop their bombs on the boats, the Zoras managed to shoot down the two Kargaroks with the captured rifles. However, they would be of little use against the next squadron of Kargaroks as it dove towards the Zoras, dropping bombs and powder kegs. The remaining Zoras dove into the water away from the boats as the birds bombed them. The boats went up in flames and were blown apart by the bombing runs. The Zoras, however, were a safe distance away and underwater as the boats were destroyed.

After the boats were destroyed, the Kargaroks returned to the Hyrulean ships to re-arm. Link noticed that the Zoras were beginning to make their way towards the Hyrulean fleet. The main ships of the line were out of range, though, and the ships closest to the Zoras were the corvettes and the escorts. As they got close, he noticed soldiers on the decks of the ships firing into the water, jets of water shooting up as the soldiers fired into the water. Most of the Zoras were too deep to be severely hurt by the bullets fired into the water. The few that were skimming the surface, though, were in greater danger, as shown when two of the Zoras closest to the ships took hits and were killed by the fire.

The rest of the surface skimming Zoras quickly dove, causing the soldiers to scan the water for any signs of the aquatic humanoids. They did not surface and the soldiers did not know if they had broken off their attack or were hiding until there was an explosion and ship shook and began to list to the list. Several soldiers were forced overboard as the ship began to list to its side. The ship also began to take on water and the soldiers began to frantically make their way towards the lifeboats. Other crew members, however, kept cooler heads and searched for the location of the breach. Just then, the ship lurched again with another explosion. Then it lurched again, and again, and again. It was quickly clear that the ship was sinking and it could not be saved. The rest of the crew searched for lifeboats since many of them could not swim. Many of the lifeboats were already taken, though, and they were unable to find any to board. To make matters worse, the Zoras quickly breached and attacked the soldiers on the lifeboats, leaping into the boats and killing the soldiers, casting them overboard. After a minute, the ship had sunk and the Zoras had dealt with the evacuated crew. With that ship having been dealt with, the Zoras quickly searched for more targets.

Meanwhile, Link guided the ship towards a support vessel that while seemingly being only lightly armed still had carronades that were hurling munitions into the water. The vessel looked like a freighter or troopship but Link did not want to take any chances since it was scouring the water, seemingly searching for Zoras to target. Link suspected that the Zoras had dived deep enough to avoid the cannon fire. The other issue was that it was headed closer towards shore. At first, Link expected the Zora artillery on the island to take down the ship, but he soon saw that the cannons were focused on the warships out at sea, firing constant barrages to discourage any warships from getting too close. When he saw that the cannons were not focusing on the support vessel, and when he saw many troops suddenly rise to appear on the deck, he knew that the ship was a troopship that was hoping to land troops.

Link pushed in the throttle and drove his ship towards the troopship, wanting to get alongside the ship so that the ship's broadside cannons could fire on the troopship, hoping that the light weaponry on the troopship would not be strong enough to damage his lightly armored vessel since Tetra's Nayru's Love barrier had since worn off. Tetra felt the extra oomph of the throttle and she looked back at Link and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Tetra, get to the starboard broadside cannons," Link commanded.

"I will not be spoken to in that manner, boy," Tetra pouted.

"Tetra, that troopship is going to land hundreds, if not thousands, of troops," Link contested. "If you want that tunic, you better hope that they don't land. The cannons on shore are only focused on dealing with the warships at sea."

"And they're not firing on the approaching troopship?" the girl asked incredulously. "If they're that dumb, then they deserve to die."

"But you won't get your tunic if they die," Link reiterated.

Tetra grumbled as she nodded and acquiesced to Link's judgment. She would simply demand the tunic from them once this was over, and demand that they pay her for the ammunition used up in this battle since they were too stupid to live in her eyes. She proceeded to go below the main deck to the gun deck and ready the two starboard broadside cannons. Once their vessel was within range of the troopship, Tetra loaded the cannons and had them fire on the troopship. Two large booms sounded as the cannons fired, the recoil on the cannons forcing them back a few feet, the only reason they only traveled backwards a few feet being the ropes that kept them suspended at the gun ports.

The duo registered two direct hits to the hull of the troopship as two explosions rang out and flowered up from the side of the enemy vessel. Tetra gave a cheer but she did not rest, for the ship only had two holes in it on its port side and none of them were close to the waterline. Readying the cannons and adjusting her aim, Tetra loaded them and fired once more. Again, two explosions shook the vessel as the recoil pushed the cannons back a few feet, Tetra rushing to the cannons to push them back into position. This time, though, the two resulting explosions against the ship's hull were close to the waterline, with one of them being right on the ship's waterline.

The ship began to list to one side and involuntarily began to submerge itself. The second hole only expedited the sinking of the vessel, for the holes that resulted from the explosions were too large for deck sealing to be effective in saving the ship. Many of the crew proceeded to make their way towards the lifeboats, but Tetra had other ideas. Adjusting her aim once more, Tetra fired another volley of cannonballs at the ship. This time, she targeted the lifeboats that the crew members and soldiers were boarding. She grinned as she saw several of the lifeboats explode as the cannonballs scored direct hits on them, sending the bodies of the soldiers onboard those boats flying. It was not long before the ship was completely submerged. Once it had sunk, Tetra searched the sea for any signs of lifeboats. When she found none, she went back up to the main deck.

After the troopship had sunk, the two spied more Kargarok squadrons coming towards them. Tetra readied another Nayru's Love shield and raised it over the ship. As soon as the shield had encompassed their ship, the first wave of Kargaroks began their attack run. The bombs in their talons fell onto the shield and detonated, the shield absorbing the blow with the ship suffering no damage. Tetra then targeted the Kargaroks with a carronade and fired at it. The canister shot she used spread out immediately upon leaving the barrel and six of the birds were taken down with the single shot. She then went to target the other Kargaroks who she thought were about to make their attack run on the ship, but they did not dive towards the ship. Instead, they flew over the ship and straight towards the island. It was then that dread welled up in Link's heart. They were going for the Zora defense lines and cannons on the shore.

The first flight of Kargaroks dove towards the defense line positioned on the shore. Several Zora soldiers saw the birds coming towards them and some of them raised their arms and launched their fins at the birds as boomerangs. Some of the boomerang fins managed to find their mark and strike the birds, taking them down before they reached their targets, the bombs either fizzling in the water or exploding a safe distance away from the defense line. The other warriors pointed their staffs up at the birds and fired blasts of magical energy at them. The magical blasts were far more accurate and lethal to the Karkaroks. The entire first flight was quickly destroyed, but with each fallen Kargarok, three seemed to rise in its place.

The second and third flights of Kargaroks quickly descended towards the Zora warriors and went to deliver their deadly payloads. The Zoras equipped with staffs shot at the more nimble bomb equipped birds while those Zoras who were able to fire their arm fins as boomerangs targeted the Kargaroks equipped with the large powder keg. One hit from a fin on a powder keg sent the keg up, the resulting explosion incinerating both Kargarok and rider. Any Kargaroks too close to the blast were also unfortunate casualties of the explosion, too, as several unfortunate Kargaroks and riders quickly learned. Still, despite the casualties, the rest of the Kargaroks continued on their attack runs. Two more Kargaroks were taken down before the first of the birds managed to reach the defense lines and deliver their deadly payload.

When the first bird dropped its bomb, it pulled up sharply to avoid a Zora boomerang fin attack, the fins sailing underneath the bird as it went up into a climb. The bomb fell onto the cannon and detonated upon impact. The explosion shattered the cannon's barrel and tossed the bodies of the Zoras manning it through the air. When they landed, they ceased moving. The rest of the surviving Kargaroks followed up by dropping their payloads onto the line of cannons.

Explosions tore through the ranks of the cannons, sending shrapnel, Zoras, and pieces of Zoras flying through the air. Even some Kargaroks who had suffered injuries and were taken down but had not been killed or were dying were given quick mercy as the explosions finished them off. Blast after blast tore through the lines and there were multiple breaches in the first cannon line. In addition, any Kargarok that had delivered its payload was immediately directed back into the fight to attack the Zoras on other cannons and other Zora soldiers that were coming out to reinforce their artillery regiment. Many of those Kargaroks were slain in the fighting, but not before they descended upon the Zoras and inflicted significant casualties to the aquatic warriors.

Soon, more flights of Kargaroks joined in on the assault and began making bombing runs on the second and third defense lines. The cannons stationed on the mountains and rocky crags were also bombed. Many of the cannons were equipped with canister shot, though, and the Kargaroks and their riders paid for their successful runs in blood. Still, there were too many Kargaroks and not enough Zoras to repel the attack. By the time that the Kargaroks had either been shot down or had expended their ordnance, half of the cannons both on the shore and on the mountain had been destroyed. Only a dozen of the heavier cannons and twenty-four carronades still remained. It would not be enough to ward off the approaching fleet and the support boats.

Link had watched the assault while engaging a corvette in a battle. Tetra's Nayru's Love shield had managed to keep their ship undamaged, but it had taken a few cannon volleys for his ship to sink the corvette. Tetra had been less than pleased with his focus towards the shore. "Hey Link, we're in the middle of a war, here! Focus on the enemies, not on shore!" she bellowed.

Still, Link could not take his eyes off of the island. He saw many longboats and motorboats being lowered into the water from the ships of the line and troopships. Rowers were trying to keep up with the motorboats, but they quickly fell behind. Not only that, but the fleet quickly began to approach the island, the massive vessels no longer having to worry about the cannons since they would have to focus on the smaller ships. The remaining heavy cannons, however, still fired on the ships and managed to inflict some damage, with one ship being sunk due to a lucky hit on its waterline, but the others quickly moved into range and opened fire on the island. Explosions dotted the island's surface, both on the shore and on the mountains. More of the cannons were destroyed but the others still fired on the fleet, sinking one of the ships and taking off the mast of another. This caused the other ships to try to shift their positions out of range of the Zora artillery. This, in turn, allowed the Zora artillery to focus on the longboats and motorboats that were fast approaching. This proved to be deadly for the longboats and motorboats, for the Zora cannons were devastatingly accurate and their range was vastly superior to the small cannons found onboard the motorboats. However, the greatest threat did not come from the sea, but the air.

Several Kargaroks rose from the decks of the ships of the line began to make another run towards the Zora lines on the island. However, these Kargaroks did not carry bombs in their talons, but Hylian soldiers. The soldiers were armed with bows and arrows and they used them to snipe Zoras on shore. A volley of arrows managed to inflict noticeable losses to the Zora defenders. However, the Zoras were not easily defeated. They returned fire on the Kargaroks, who either had to bank upwards to avoid the fire or were shot and taken down. However, the lead fliers in the flight concealed the true purpose of the Kargaroks.

In the talons of several Kargaroks were Hylian soldiers dressed in robes. These were almost certainly magicians. This was confirmed when several of them extended their hands and unleashed vicious lightning bolts into the lines of the Zoras. Several Zora warriors were reduced to charred skeletons and ashes by the lightning barrage while others were simply electrocuted. The Kargaroks dropped these sorcerers onto the islands, along with several more Hyrulean soldiers, and they went to work chanting in an ancient Hyrulean language, while the soldiers formed a living shield around them while the Kargaroks dove upon the Zoras to tear bloody holes in the ranks of the warriors.

The soldiers continued to fire into the ranks of the Zoras, taking down many of the Zoras manning the carronades, while the other Zoras were forced to either turn their heavy cannons towards the invaders, or focus back on the fleet. The Zoras manning the heavy cannons continued to focus on keeping the ships at bay while their defenders and escorts focused on dealing with the soldiers. A few carronades were able to get off some shots and take down many soldiers, including a few magicians, but two of the magicians managed to complete their ritual and then slammed their hands onto the ground and cried, "Summoning!"

Immediately, more than three-dozen Knights of Hyrule appeared on the island surrounding them, supported by a hundred soldiers armed with rifles and swords. The armor of the Knights and soldiers would be insufficient to protect the soldiers from the magical blasts of the Zoras' staffs and from the cannon fire, but it did protect them from the Zoras' boomerang fins and any close combat attack the aquatic warriors could launch on them. The Knights then pointed their magical halberds at the Zora warriors and opened fire, felling dozens of them in the first volley. The other Zoras fired upon the Knights, managing to take a few of them down, but for each Knight that fell, six Zoras fell in return. In addition, the Knights were also picking off the Zoras manning the remaining cannons and carronades. Soon, it would be bad enough that the defenses would be down and the fleet would have free access to Zora's Domain. The surviving Zoras were already calling in help from other areas of the island, but they knew that they were in trouble since by diverting forces from the other sectors of the island, that they would be more vulnerable to being invaded. It soon became even worse when the magicians summoned more Knights and Hyrulean soldiers to the island to support the first wave of troops.

Meanwhile, Link was examining the scene on the island using his Hawkeye. He knew that the Zoras were in trouble and without help they would not last much longer. "We have to get onto that island and help the Zoras now," Link called out to Tetra.

"Are you crazy?" the princess blurted in shock. "There's an all out assault on that island complete with magicians and Knights of Hyrule! We have to go to the other end of it, infiltrate it, get the tunic and get out!"

"But if the Zoras are destroyed, they won't be able to make a Zora Tunic for you," Link reiterated. "And I don't know if there are any child-size tunics either for sale or readily available on the island."

Tetra pouted again, clearly unhappy with what had to be done. "Fine. But tell me how you intend to help the Zoras. You know, as much as I hate myself for saying this, your previous recommendation of simply having me teach you the Ocarina songs and talking you through the process of breaching the stasis barrier and getting into the Temple of Time is sounding a lot more reasonable."

"We're already here," Link contested. "I won't abandon the Zoras to slavery and death."

"Again, HOW?" Tetra roared.

"Take me to shore," Link answered. "Surely we can deal with the motorboats that are there. I'll help them deal with the soldiers and the Knights that are already on the island. From there, you go out and fight the rest of the fleet."

"In this little ship?" Tetra retorted, her eyes wide with shock. "And you alone?" she added, not knowing which sounded more unreasonable. "It won't work."

"Your Nayru's Love shield should work for a while," Link answered. "And I'm almost certain you have other techniques that could help. Besides, there are other cannons stationed on the island. All you would really have to do is draw them into field of fire of the other defenses. There's only one hole in the island's defenses at the moment. It'll be my job to make sure that the Hyrulean soldiers don't get through into the mountain and to clear out the ones that do get in. You do what you must to stay alive while also trying to distract the fleet. I'll deal with the soldiers."

"One problem. How will you survive? You're facing an army with rifles. All you have is your bow and arrow."

"Which can fire Bomb Arrows," Link added.

"And how will you survive the return fire?" Tetra asked in a smart tone. "Your Magic Armor runs on Rupees and you'll run out of them soon enough. We'll need them if we have to face off against enemies in the Temple of Time."

Link sighed. "I know. But we can't just abandon the Zoras on shore."

"We don't have to," Tetra said. "I'll take you to shore and bombard the magicians with my lightning. Then you can cover the Zoras with the cannons, and then we can take on those longboats and motorboats. After that, we cover the Zora commandos in taking down the fleet. That's when my Nayru's Love will come in handy."

"That's…actually a pretty good plan," Link said, surprised that he was admitting such. "Still, we need to get into range of shore now. Those longboats are getting close and a large number of troops have already landed on the island. As long as that magician is still alive, more will just keep showing up."

"Right," Tetra answered as she steered the ship towards the island.

As they got closer to the island, the sounds of fire grew louder as the soldiers of each faction exchanged fire with each other. The remaining cannons on the shore fired on the motorboats and longboats as they approached, prompting the boats to try to fire on them, both to protect themselves as well as cover the soldiers already on the island. As the battle progressed, more Zora soldiers emerged from the mountains to join the fight on the shore in order to deny the armies of Hyrule a beachhead. Link and Tetra wasted no time accelerating their ship to full throttle.

As they approached the island, they saw another flight of Kargaroks rise from the flagship of the Hyrulean attack fleet and begin to approach them, rather than go towards the island. Link was half thankful that they were focusing on his ship rather than going to the island, but another part of him was growing quite concerned.

"Tetra, we've got another Kargarok flight coming our way!" he warned the princess as she was readying the cannons and casting a spell on them so that she could fire them purely by the power of her mind.

She grumbled and looked up at the flight. "You'll have to deal with these pests, Link. I'm too busy setting everything up for us to be able to fight as if this ship had a full crew. Besides, I'll need to conserve magical power for later uses Nayru's Love when we take on that fleet out there."

Link suppressed a shrug. This was not the time for Tetra to worry about conserving magic, especially since he would have difficulty dealing with a whole flock of Kargaroks. Still, he knew that his best bet would be the carronades. Assuming Tetra did not link the carronades with her spell, which he strongly suspected that she did not, it would be up to him to use the anti-personnel cannons to shoot down the birds. Fortunately, they were flying in close formation so a single shot would either manage to kill the whole flight, or it could cause them to break off the attack in order to form up again.

Link proceeded to load the powder into the carronade. He then loaded the canister shot and rammed it in. Once the cannon was ready, he swiveled the carronade and raised it towards the birds. He could see the lights of the fuses on the bombs they were carrying. He then lit the carronade's fuse and waited for the second it took to burn and reach the powder. The anti-personnel cannon then unleashed its payload into the flight of Kargaroks, ejecting a large mass of lead their way. The pellets rocketed through the air and spread out the moment they left the cannon's barrel. They struck six of the eight birds that were making their attack run on the ship. Some of the pellets struck the bombs being carried by the birds and detonated them prematurely, blowing apart the birds in the process. As for those bombs that were not detonated by the pellets, they fell into the water harmlessly, where their fuses were extinguished.

With six of the eight Kargaroks dead, Link quickly drew out his bow and arrow and took a quick snap shot at one of the two remaining Kargaroks. He managed to score a hit on the bird's wing, causing it to emit a high-pitched squawk and fall into the sea, dropping its bomb into the sea as well. Its rider fell with it, but Link suspected that the rider may have survived the fall. The second bird, seeing the fate of its first, was directed away from the ship by its rider. The bird was still armed and still a danger, though, so Link took aim with his trusty bow and unleashed another arrow at the bird. The arrow hit its mark and the bird was quickly taken down, crashing into the sea with its rider.

With the Kargarok flight having been dealt with, the way to the shore was clear for a while. However, Link knew that the real challenge was about to begin. He went to the bridge and guided the ship towards the island, making sure to line the ship up so that his port broadside cannons had a clear shot at the troops on the island, while the starboard side cannons had a clear shot at the approaching longboats and motorboats. With the Kargaroks having been dealt with, this task would be a lot easier, but it would not be easy.

He maneuvered the ship into position between the island and the transport craft. So far, the ships of the line were not firing on his ship or launching any more Kargaroks. Tetra stood on the main deck, ready to cast Nayru's Love should the enemy warships fire on their ship. Her eyes glowed as she focused her magic on the use of the cannons while Link sat at the controls of the main cannon. Pushing a button, he extended the main cannon and had it automatically loaded with a rocket should any of the larger ships of the line in the distance begin firing on the ship.

Once his ship was in position, he allowed Tetra to do the rest. Using her magic, she guided the cannons, swiveling them the small amount necessary for them to be able to hit their targets. Once the cannons were in their proper position, they opened fire. The recoil of the broadside cannons firing in unison canceled out the effects on the ship so it was not rocked. The explosive cannonballs fired by the port cannons arced through the air and fell among the attacking Hyrulean soldiers, exploding upon impact. The detonations by the cannonballs sent shrapnel flying through the ranks of the Hyrulean squads, with the concussions of the blasts sending bodies, as well as pieces of bodies, flying through the air. Over two-dozen soldiers fell as a result of the first volley. Tetra was not finished, though. She unleashed a second volley that was just as damaging.

As for the starboard cannons, Tetra had them fire solid shot cannonballs. These cannonballs did not explode upon impact, but were highly dense and were designed to pierce the hulls of wooden ships and could even penetrate the weaker hulls of the metal motorboats. The first volley of cannon fire managed to strike two longboats. The momentum of the cannonballs shattered the boats that were hit, with the bodies of the soldiers being tossed through the air like ragdolls. Those that were fortunate, or unfortunate as the case turned out to be, to survive were quickly accosted by the Zora commandos in the water and were dragged to a watery grave. On her second volley, she targeted two motorboats. The motorboats had attempted to fire on her ship but as they were swiveling their cannons towards the boat, her cannons had already fired, the dense lead balls piercing the hulls of the ships, plowing through them and emerging from the bottoms of the vessels. The vessels listed backwards promptly sank, dragging their crew to a watery grave, those that had not been smashed by the cannonballs. Those that were able to swim were quickly dealt with by the Zoras in the water.

As for the larger ships of the line, one of them, the largest of the ships, the flagship, turned and showed its port broadside guns to Link's ship. Link, seeing this, knew that the ship was about to fire and that he had one chance to end the ship's threat. Swiveling his primary cannon around, he had it loaded with a long-range rocket. Once he was sure of his aim, he unleashed the rocket upon the ship. The rocket streaked from the launcher, a red trail of fire erupting from the rocket's rear, a trail of smoke erupting from the tail with the flame. The rocket quickly hit its mark, one of the cannons on the gun deck of the flagship. The smoke and flame erupted from the ship as the missile struck it and the deck was immediately set on fire. Crew members quickly went to work trying to put out the flame, but it was harder to do so than imagined. In addition, the flame was very close to a powder magazine. After a minute or so, during which the ship not only tried to shoot Link's ship, failing due to the fact that Tetra had raised a Nayru's Love shield, causing the cannonballs to either bounce off of the shield or explode against it, inflicting no damage, the fire reached the powder magazine and there was a massive explosion. The ship was literally torn in half by the explosion and the two halves began to sink into the water. However, before the ship's final death, a number of longboats and motorboats were lowered into the water and moved away from the ship, but not in the direction of the other boats. Instead, they seemed to travel around the perimeter of the island, being careful to remain out of range of the island's cannons.

Meanwhile, back on Link and Tetra's ship, Tetra unleashed several more volleys of cannon fire from the port cannons and managed to gouge more holes in the ranks of the Hyrulean soldiers. This allowed Zora reinforcements to come from other parts of the island and even from inside of Zora's Domain. With the new influx of Zora soldiers, the soldiers attempting to breach the domain from the island's exterior quickly found themselves outnumbered. They still fought back valiantly, but without help from the longboats or from the rest of the fleet, they had no chance of success. In addition, more Zora reinforcements went to man the remaining cannons and begin to fire on the large ships of the line off the island's coast. To make matters worse for the Hyrulean fleet, the rest of the island still had its defenses intact, so attacking other areas of the island would be a hazardous proposition at best. With the four bomb vessels having already been sunk by Zora commandos, it was clear that there were no artillery weapons that were within range of the island and that in order for the ships to be able to support the troops on shore, the fleet would have to put itself in mortal peril.

One of the ships strayed a little too close to the island and suffered a direct hit on the bow of the ship right at its waterline. The ship immediately began to list forward, taking on water. The crew worked furiously to drag the ship out of range of the island's defensive cannons, but even as it did so, the ship was beginning to take on more water. Even sealing off the damaged deck was insufficient to stop the ship from sinking, only serving to slow its demise. What it did do, though, was allow the crew to board the lifeboats and motorboats stored on the ship and lower them into the water, allowing those who were not killed in the initial explosion to evacuate the ship. In addition, several Kargaroks took off, along with their Hylian riders, and began to fly towards the island, being careful to keep out of the lines of fire of the cannons, juking and jiving so as to make themselves difficult targets. They carried bombs and promptly dropped them the moment they had gotten over the island but their bombing runs were not very precise, the bombs either detonating in the air harmlessly or striking the ground well away from any cannons or troop formations. Instead, they simply flew around the island, as if they were looking for something.

Meanwhile, over towards the now sunken flagship, a line of longboats and motorboats that had lowered themselves into the water and had been using the fleet for cover sped away from the main force and began to sail the perimeter of the island. One of the Kargaroks that had taken off from the second sunken ship and had been patrolling the island quickly broke off from his flight path and turned back around towards the main fleet. Once it did so, it gave off a squawk and the line of motorboats and longboats from both the flagship and the second sunken ship quickly followed it as explosions rocked one of the larger ships of the line, alerting the rest of the fleet to the threat that the Zora commandos still posed.

Link noticed the line of longboats and motorboats leave the fleet at full speed and move off in another direction. At first, he thought nothing of it until he saw the Kargarok in the sky. Seeing that the boats were following the Kargarok, he changed course and rushed off in pursuit of the longboats in the distance. It took Tetra only a few seconds to notice the abrupt course change and she rushed to the bridge to have a talk with Link.

"Hey Link, what are you doing? We've gotta cover the Zoras on the ground!"

"They're not the trouble right now," Link replied. He then motioned towards the Kargarok and the boats following it. Tetra then understood his concern.

"Do you think they've found an alternate path to enter Zora's Domain?"

"I don't know. But they aren't up to any good, I can tell you that much," the hero answered.

Tetra nodded. "Let's get going. I'll ready the carronades on deck. With the proper shot, we'll easily be able to sink the longboats and possibly even the motorboats."

Tetra then went to work as Link focused back on the bridge and guided the ship as it left its position to give chase to the longboats and motorboats. He was loath to leave the Zoras on the shore without any more backup but he suspected that they would be able to take care of themselves with the reinforcements that had come from the domain. His greater concern was what would happen if the soldiers were able to breach an undefended area and enter Zora's Domain, itself. And Link would do what he must to keep that from happening.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

Link carefully piloted the ship as he followed the lines of longboats and motorboats. He was careful to follow them from a distance as well as keep an eye to his stern in order to make sure that none of the ships tried to launch a pursuit. It just so happened that one of the warships did, indeed, turn and begin to mount a pursuit of his small ship. Judging from the size of the ship, Link surmised that it was a galleon. The ship turned and fired on Link's small ship, the initial shot missing his ship by inches. A jet of water rocketed from the sea as the cannonball struck it and sea spray rained down on Tetra, causing her to grumble and curse.

"Sink that thing!" she roared over the din.

Link shrugged and obliged by extending the main cannon to its highest point so it could fire on the pursuing ship. Having the loading mechanism load it with a rocket, he swiveled the cannon until he had drawn a bead on the warship chasing him. Once he had drawn a bead on the ship, he let fly with the rocket. Flames erupted from the cannon as the rocket erupted from its tube. The long trail of smoke was a dead giveaway that Link's ship was in battle, and was also a severe warning to the motorboats and longboats that they were being pursued. The missile crashed into the galleon's bow and exploded, flame and smoke emerging from the hole. The missile had struck the ship near its waterline and the resulting explosion had breached the hull both above and below the waterline. The ship began to list forward and sink into the water. As it did so, the crew did its best to seal off the damaged decks and allow the ship to remain afloat. Unfortunately, for them, it was not to be and the ship continued to sink further and further into the water. After a minute, the ship was completely submerged.

Tetra gave a cry of celebration as the ship sunk. "And another one bites the dust!" she sang.

Link did not listen to Tetra's singing and simply focused on catching up to those longboats and motorboats since they had to have seen his exchange of fire with the galleon. Sure enough, the boats had, indeed, witnessed the skirmish and were now rowing and sailing as fast as they could. Even the Kargarok had picked up speed. For a moment, Link was tempted to have Tetra try to shoot the Kargarok from the sky but he resisted the urge, not wanting to waste ammunition. Instead, he merely pushed more power into the throttle so that he could catch up to the boats faster and sink them.

As he guided the ship towards the boats, he noticed the Kargarok accelerate away from the ship. He quickly noticed that the motorboats followed suit, accelerating to match the Kargarok's speed, leaving behind the longboats as they sped ahead. It appeared as if the longboats were now nothing more than decoys or cannon soaks, designed to do nothing more than be a distraction for Link's ship so that the motorboats could make their way to their destinations intact.

While Link did not care much about the longboats, save for the possibility that the soldiers may have been equipped with Water Bombs and have been able to use them to either damage or sink their ship, Tetra seemed to be far more concerned about that possibility. Using her magic, she swiveled the carronades so that they were zeroing in on the first squadron of longboats. Using her magic to mimic telekinesis, she lifted the powder and placed it into the carronades. She then lifted the grapeshot canisters and placed them into the carronades, using the rams to ram the canisters into the cannon. Using a precise application of Din's Fire, she then lit the fuses and waited for the carronades to fire.

As one, the carronades fired a volley of lead bullets into the hulls of the longboats. The bullets spread out immediately upon exiting the barrels of the anti-personnel cannons and scored multiple hits on the first squadron of longboats. In addition, multiple pellets also struck the soldiers sitting inside the longboats, many of them being killed in the firing before the boats even sank. Some of the longboats were shattered by the multiple pellets that struck them while others merely sank into the water. Those soldiers that had not died in the initial firing of the ship did their best to swim away from the onrushing boat. However, Tetra was not satisfied and, reaching for the Ocarina of time, she blew into it and played a song. The song that was played was an upbeat tune and when it was finished, a vicious thunderstorm was summoned. Clouds immediately formed in the sky and it began to rain. Interspersed with the rain were flashes of lightning.

Chanting in an unknown language, Link suspected that she was casting a spell that would protect them from the lightning. The unfortunate soldiers treading water did not have the same protection. Lightning lashed out from the clouds at the water the water and sometimes even struck a soldier directly. The few Knights of Hyrule that were somehow able to stay afloat despite their heavy armor were in greater danger since their metallic armor conducted electricity just as well as the water and even better since they were stuck in water, too. The Knights did not last long and were the first to suffer direct lightning strikes. As for the other soldiers, the lightning strikes on the Knights as well as the water around them were every bit as fatal, the electricity arcing through the water, electrocuting and killing the hapless soldiers, their bodies floating on the surface. Tetra then went over to the deck rails to look into the water and admire her handiwork. After a few more minutes of storms, the clouds dispersed just as quickly as they had appeared and the sky was clear once more. Save for the bodies floating in the water, there was no sign of any kind that a storm had been raging mere seconds ago. Tetra gave a satisfied smile.

Not content to sit back, she readied another two carronades and targeted the second longboat squadron. Once she had drawn a bead on the squadron of longboats, the carronades opened fire. Grapeshot dispersed as it emerged from the barrels of the carronades and the overlapping fields of fire ensured the destruction of at least six more longboats, plus their crews. The hulks, which now resembled Swiss cheese, quickly sank into the sea. She then used her telekinesis to load the carronades again and target the rest of the squadron. Once she had drawn a bead on them, her eyes flashed and the carronades fired once more. The rest of the squadron was destroyed with the volley. Four of the boats were shattered by the sheer volume of fire unleashed upon them, the soldiers onboard the boats faring no better than the boats that bore them. The rest of the boats had numerous holes in them and promptly sunk. The unarmored soldiers that were capable of swimming treaded water and tried to swim to the island. Not one to show mercy, Tetra focused on the fleeing soldiers and a sadistic gleam came to her eyes. She extended her hand and a series of electrical sparks arced across her fingertips. She then grinned and unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts from her fingertips. The lightning bolts arced into the water and promptly electrocuted the soldiers, their bodies, those that were not reduced to dust by the extreme power of Tetra's lightning, floating in the sea. Tetra looked at her handiwork and grinned. "And another squad bites the dust," she sang.

After a few more seconds she focused on the only other threat, the motorboats that had surged ahead of the longboats. From what she could tell, she counted at least a dozen motorboats. She also suspected that there could be more. Looking at them, she noticed that the ship barely seemed to be making any headway on them. She then looked out over the railing of the ship and noticed that the ship did not seem to be traveling at top speed despite the passing of her storm. She stomped back to the center of the deck and cried, "Hey Link, what the hell are you doing in there? Get this thing to full speed now so we can catch those boats!"

"We're going as fast as we safely can in these heavy waters," Link called back to the princess, annoyed at her constant complaining.

"What heavy waters?" the princess roared.

"The heavy waters that formed with the storm you created," Link answered. Looking out at the sea, Tetra noticed that it was still rough. "Just because the skies have cleared doesn't mean that the sea has calmed. We have to be careful since this ship is basically the size of a large boat."

"Screw safety! I wanna sink some motorboats!"

"We won't be able to reach the boats if we burn out the engines," Link reiterated. "Besides, we're already catching up to the motorboats."

Tetra was forced to look out over the deck and see that slowly but surely, the ship was gaining on the motorboats. Still, she pouted as she saw the motorboats off in the distance. "Damn, why does he keep having to prove himself right?" she muttered to herself. "Maybe he's smarter than he initially let on." A look of concern then crossed her face, but it promptly disappeared as she focused back on the task at hand.

She then looked out over the sea again at the boats they were pursuing. Judging from the distance, they were still outside of firing range for the ship's cannons, and certainly out of carronade range. However, it appeared as if the motorboats were actually within range of their ship. One of the boats swiveled its cannon around and Tetra saw a puff of smoke erupt from the cannon. It took less than a second for the boom of the cannon's firing to reach her ears but just as she heard the shot, a jet of water erupted from the sea next to her, indicating the location of the hit. She seethed. The motorboats were within their weapons' range. She would have to use Nayru's Love earlier than she had wanted.

"Link, they're firing on us! Do something!" she cried back to the hero, who was busy pushing more energy into the throttle and extending the main cannon.

Link ignored the girl's cries and focused on shooting down the closest of the motorboats. He decided to load the main cannon with a cannonball rather than a rocket since he did not want to waste the limited number of rockets that he had. He knew that he was pushing it for his weapons range, especially since the motorboats were accelerating away from his ship once more, but he knew that he would have to sink them before they inflicted significant damage to his ship. To that end, he had the lift load the cannon with a cannonball. As it did so, he had a hatch close over one end of the cannon, fitting it for normal solid shot. Once that was ready, he called to Tetra over the speakers, "Cover your ears."

Tetra grumbled as she followed his command and she then heard the deck rattle as the main cannon fired. Suddenly, she was happy that she had followed his instructions. "Would have been nice to tell me you were going to use the cannon," she muttered.

She then focused her attention back on the line of motorboats and as watched the trailing motorboat took a direct hit with the cannonball. The cannon on the boat was shattered with the hit and the ball breached the deck and the hull. The boat quickly sank as there was no way for the crew to quickly repair the damage that the ball's piercing of the ship had inflicted. Most of them simply jumped overboard as the boat sank. Those that were not wearing armor and could swim were able to tread water and began to swim towards the island. Those that were either wearing heavy armor, unable to swim, or both, were trapped and eventually drowned.

With the destruction of one of the motorboats, the rest of the motorboats began to accelerate away from Link's approaching ship. However, soon, two motorboats broke away from the main group and turned back towards the ship. Tetra could only laugh. "Wow, those boats are suicidal!" she said, laughing.

She did not notice the boats firing on the ship. Unfortunately, one of the boats actually had pretty good aim, for its shot scored a glancing hit on the boat. The cannonball struck the side of the boat and glanced off of the metal hull, but it was enough to shake the ship and shake Tetra out of her laughing jag. "What the heck was that?" she cried at the top of her lungs.

She then gave a cry as she struggled to maintain her footing as Link sharply banked the ship to the right and two jets of water rocketed up from the sea, right where the ship had been seconds ago obvious indicators of the fire of the motorboats. It also showed that if Link had not sharply banked the ship, that the ship would have suffered damage, possibly heavy or fatal damage. She grimaced. He had been right again. However, she was quick to notice that he was not returning fire just yet. Her patience then left her once more.

"Hey Binky, what the hell are you doing in there? Get your freaking head in the game and take down those boats!"

However, as she was in the middle of her rant, her voice was drowned out by the firing of the cannon. She gave a cry of shock and pain as she reflexively covered her ears, too late though since the cannon had already fired. She then turned back to the bridge and cried, "Damn it Binky, let me know next time when you fire that thing!" She did not see the cannonball hit one of the two motorboats and obliterate it.

Link then swiveled the cannon and loaded it, giving Tetra ample time to cover her still ringing ears. She did so and the cannon thundered once more as it launched a cannonball at the other motorboat. The ball struck the motorboat amidships and broke it in half, throwing the bodies of the soldiers on the deck into the sea. The two halves promptly sank into the water. The annoyed Tetra waited for the ship to get into range of the floating soldiers, her fingers crackling with electricity. Once she was within range, she unleashed a vicious volley of lightning bolts into the sea, frying the soldiers. "And another one bites the dust!" she sang once more.

On the bridge of the ship, Link looked on at Tetra with concern. He could take her name-calling, and even her cursing, but her sadism as she killed the helpless soldiers in the sea greatly concerned him. She was taking far too much pleasure in killing the soldiers. While he knew that if they had managed to get onto the island that they could wage a guerilla war for a long time, if not join the forces already on the island and reinforce them, the pleasure she took in killing them was causing him to become wary of her. Her actions were beginning to confirm some of his concerns about the girl. She was acting much like Hyrulean royalty. The only difference between her and Prince Daphnes was whom she killed. She went after the soldiers and did not do anything perverted to others, that he knew of. He could take her poor treatment of him, but her attitude did concern him. Still, he felt as if he had to put things in perspective. After all, Midna had not been that much better to him at the beginning of her quest with him. By the time the quest had ended, they were the best of friends, possibly more, each one willing lay down his or her life for the other. In fact, Midna had almost done just that when she had fought Ganondorf after evacuating him and Zelda from Hyrule Castle. Maybe Tetra was like Midna and all she needed was someone who actually cared. After all, she had been surrounded by scum her whole life. Anyway, he did not dwell on it for too long. One thing that was abundantly clear was that he needed her, and she needed him, too. He would worry about what would happen next after he got her her tunic.

Link continued to follow the motorboats as they made their way towards Zora's Domain. He noticed the squadron take a hard left at one point and turn inwards towards the island, itself. Link followed suit, carefully calculating the distance between his ship and the boats. He wanted to shoot down the motorboats as quickly as possible so as to minimize the risk of damage being sustained by the ship.

After a minute's worth of pursuit, he found himself within range of one of the rearmost motorboats. Using the automated loading system of the main cannon, he drew a bead on the motorboat and once he was certain of his aim, he fired. The cannonball soared through the air and struck the motorboat amidships, breaking it in half.

In response to the sinking of another boat, the rest of the taskforce accelerated away at their top speed and possibly even beyond. Link accelerated in pursuit of the boats but as he studied his map, next to his console, he saw that he was coming upon a dead end. Looking out the bridge window ahead, he saw that they were coming up on the island. There was a small channel off in the distance, but it looked to be closed off via a large stone, something that Tetra was eager to let him know about.

"Hey Link, in case you actually _are_ blind, we're coming up on a small channel that will barely be able to support us and we're headed towards a rocky dead end!" Tetra yelled back to the hero. "Shoot those boats because they don't seem to be stopping!"

Sure enough, the motorboats were not slowing down at all. Instead, if anything, they seemed to be accelerating. They must have been going faster than their normal top speed. He began to wonder if there was a magician on one or more of those motorboats. In short time, he caught up to another motorboat and armed the cannon once more. He fired a single cannonball at the boat and watched as the ball struck the rear half of the boat, gouging a massive hole into the boat that would lead to its demise. The boat promptly sank, forcing the troops and crew to jump overboard and swim towards the island. Tetra put an end to their attempt at survival by unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts once they were within range. The hapless soldiers suffered direct hits from the lightning bolts and were reduced to ashes.

With the destruction of another motorboat, Link pushed more energy into the throttle of his ship, seeing that the waters were calmer. As he accelerated, he looked out the window and saw that he was fast approaching the channel that the motorboats were steaming towards. The boats quickly entered the channel single file and made their way forward, Link's ship following in hot pursuit. One of the motorboats had to slow down in order to get into line. This would prove fatal for the boat, for it was now within weapons range of Link's ship. Link targeted the boat and soon, it joined its fallen comrades at the bottom of the sea as a cannonball blew a hole into it that hulled the boat, sinking it. Not long after the boats had entered the channel, Link made his own way into the channel. The channel, itself, was very small and Link could see what looked to be a cave in the wall. He quickly saw the boats enter the cave and realized that there was something important on the other side of the cave.

Immediately readying the cannon, he loaded it with a rocket. He then targeted the stone structure above the cave and fired the rocket. The rocket erupted from the cannon and streaked towards the stone archway. It struck the stone archway and detonated, blowing chunks of dirt and rock in all directions. Several motorboats that were under the archway and making their way into the pool or bay were struck by the falling rocks and sunk. As the dust cleared, he could see a clear avenue into the bay ahead. He was also able to make out the four remaining motorboats of the special squad that had evacuated the doomed flagship.

Link deftly maneuvered his ship as made his way through the falling rocks, avoiding the falling debris without Tetra having to use Nayru's Love. After about thirty seconds, he found himself in what looked to be either a lake or bay. He recognized this area as being Zora's Fountain. Looking ahead, he found the motorboats siding up to the dock. He saw a quartet of Zoras standing on the docks, each of them armed with staffs. As the motorboats approached, the Zoras could tell that something was wrong and they immediately backed away so as to warn the ruler in the throne room of the situation. They were immediately shot down, though, by the numerous soldiers on the boat, their bodies being riddled with holes from bullets and magical blasts.

Once the Zoras had been killed, the boats pulled up to the dock, carefully maneuvering the boats so that they did not run aground. The soldiers immediately disembarked from the craft. One of the soldiers was wearing ornate golden armor and was equipped with a staff with a crystal at the end of it. He also had a sword but he believed that it was merely ceremonial. It was clear that the soldier was no mere soldier or even a Knight of Hyrule. He was nobility. And if the number of medals on his chest and the ornamentation of his armor was any indication, he was a high-ranking noble. He was joined by eight of Knights of Hyrule. The soldiers that disembarked from the three other motorboats looked to merely be normal soldiers. As soon as they disembarked, they followed a passage into a cave to the left of the dock. Four of the Knights were left on the dock to protect against anyone coming from behind.

Link went about positioning his ship so that the carronades would allow him to take down the Knights. As they approached, the dock, they heard a large boom echo from behind them. Soon, a splash of water rocketed up from the sea. Looking back behind them, he saw a warship following them. Looking behind the warship, he saw three other ships that were at least as large as frigates, with one of them being a ship of the line. He soon heard several pings sound against the hull of his ship as he saw the Knights of Hyrule firing on the ship. Tetra quickly raised a Nayru's Love shield over herself and rushed to one of the carronades. She loaded powder into it, along with a canister of canister shot and pointed it at the Knights. She then lit the fuse and the anti-personnel cannon fired its load at the Knights. The lead pellets inside the canister expanded into a cloud of death as they emerged from the carronade's barrel. The Knights were pelted by numerous pellets, their armor doing nothing to stop the pellets. The Knights quickly fell to the hail of cannon fire, leaving the dock area free of any troops. Still, he knew that there were a few dozen soldiers inside of Zora's Domain now, and that they could do a lot of damage.

"Tetra, there are still at least several dozen soldiers inside of Zora's Domain," Link called to Tetra, emerging from the bridge. "I'll go into Zora's Domain and take care of them. Once I'm on the docks, go and take on the warships behind us. We have to cut off any reinforcements coming from behind. With any luck, that'll cause the rest of the fleet to retreat, assuming the Zoras can't hold against the main force in and of itself. And make sure raise a Nayru's Love shield over the ship when engaging the enemy fleet. This ship can't take much damage. Oh, and use the main cannons to deal with the enemy if at all possible. The rockets are strong enough to damage, if not sink, the enemy warships."

"Got it," Tetra told him flatly. "Get going and save Zora's Domain. I need that tunic!"

Link nodded and jumped into the water and swam the short distance to the dock so he could enter Zora's Domain and stop the soldiers.

As he surfaced, he grabbed the edge of the dock and pulled himself up. As he did so, several soldiers emerged from the cave and fired on him, forcing him to raise his Hylian Shield in order to protect himself, the bullets bouncing off his shield. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and the soldiers were shattered by a cannonball falling into their ranks. Link looked back out at his ship and saw Tetra smiling.

"Thanks," the hero called out to her.

"Don't dawdle, hero!" Tetra called. "Get going and save those Zoras!"

Link nodded and smiled a bit. It looked as if Tetra may have been warming up to the Zoras after all. With that, he charged into the cave. As he did so, he drew his bow, along with an arrow, notching it to his bow, wanting to make sure he could take down any enemies from a distance, rather than have to waste precious time drawing weapons if he encountered a sniper.

As he entered the cave, he was accosted by two Knights of Hyrule. Seeing that his normal arrows would be of little use against them, he put down the arrows and drew out a couple of bombs. He tossed the explosives towards the Knights as they leveled their magical halberds at him. The Knights, seeing the bombs, then pointed the weapons up and fired on the bombs as they were beginning to arc down towards them. One of the bombs was hit and detonated prematurely. Still, the detonation was close enough to the Knights that the blast stunned them and prevented them from shooting down the second bomb. It soon crashed into one of the Knights and exploded, blowing apart the Knight in the process. The second Knight was sent flying through the air, his armor being pelted by shrapnel and suffering severe burns. The shrapnel managed to penetrate the armor at certain weak points and the blast overpressure was enough to incapacitate the Knight, if not outright kill him. Link charged past the Knights and made his way towards the throne room.

As Link entered the throne room, he encountered no less than twenty Hyrulean soldiers, all of who turned to face him as he entered. Seeing them target him, he ducked back outside the entrance and behind a cave wall as they fired, bullets bouncing off of the wall. However, as the soldiers were focused on him, they had not noticed a group of Zoras swimming in the water. Apparently, they had swum up the waterfall and were approaching silently. As such, the soldiers were caught completely off guard when the Zora warriors leapt from the water and crashed into their ranks, slashing at them with their sharp fins. The soldiers quickly ignored Link and turned to facing down the Zora attackers. This freed Link to enter the fight against the remaining soldiers. Two soldiers attempted to attack him with the butts of their rifles, only to be cut down by the hero.

As the hero continued to fight the Hyrulean soldiers, figuring that with the limited numbers that had come through the back entrance, he quickly scanned the area for any sign of Zora royalty. He also searched for any sign of the Hyrulean noble leading the attack. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a soldier wearing golden armor that had numerous medals placed on his chest, but he did not wear a helmet that Link could see and he also had a Zora girl in his clutches. The girl looked to be young, only a couple of years older than Tetra, and not close to his age. The noble held the girl in a vice-like grip. As the noble glared at Link, he clutched the Zora girl and produced a knife, holding it to her throat. The girl struggled against his strength but the noble was too strong. She gagged and gasped, "Help." Link, seeing the knife being held to the girl's throat, drew his bow and notched an arrow to it, taking aim at the noble. The noble merely grinned at the hero.

"So you're the one who killed Prince Daphnes," the noble said, laughing. "I must say that you don't look as strong as our Link."

"Let the girl go and I'll let you leave here alive and unmolested. I will also not pursue you or your forces after you escape. If you don't attack me or any other friends, I won't go after you," Link offered.

The noble merely laughed. "Let the girl go? You must be a fool, boy!" the noble laughed. "I'm Count Fredrick of the river! I don't surrender to kids!"

With that, Frederick threw the Zora girl aside and drew a large broadsword, charging towards Link. Link quickly fired his arrow, which struck the noble in the armor but only slowed him down a step. One step was all Link needed, though, for he was able to quickly draw his sword and shield and raise the shield, catching the noble's initial swing. A loud clang rang out as Frederick's sword made contact with Link's Hylian Shield. The hero retaliated with a thrust to the midsection of the noble, which merely dented the noble's armor and slid off of it. Still, that was more than the hero had expected. Frederick was not slowed, though, and took another swing at the hero. Link ducked underneath the swing and slashed at the noble's less heavily armored legs. The sword bit into the noble's armor and must have hit some flesh, for the noble gave a cry and staggered away, dropping his large sword, which splashed in the water. Link saw a trickle of blood flow from the cut in the noble's legs. However, Frederick was far from finished.

Reaching behind him, Frederick drew a second sword, this one being smaller, much like Link's own sword, as well as a shield. However, the noble now had more mobility in the fight and could attack and defend at the same time, just like Link. The noble then charged Link a second time, thrusting his sword forward. Link thrust his shield forward to intercept the attack and knock the noble off balance. The sword struck the shield and bounced off of it as the hero thrust his shield forward, knocking the noble off balance. Link then thrust his Ordon Sword forward and struck the noble in the same place where he had dented the armor earlier. This time, the sword bit into the armor, but it was not sufficient to inflict any injury upon the noble, for he was wearing a chainmail shirt underneath. Link quickly withdrew his blade to avoid the counterattack, the hero sidestepping the retaliatory thrust from the noble. Another thrust of the noble's blade caused Link to use a Shield Attack and knock the noble off balance once more and send him staggering backwards. Studying the situation, Link knew that his sword would be of little use in penetrating the heavy armor of the noble. However, an idea quickly came to him and he knew what his next move would be.

As Frederick was knocked off balance, Link put away his sword and shield. He then drew out a Deku Nut and tossed it at the noble's head. The Deku Nut slammed into the noble's helmet and detonated, emitting a loud crack and a blinding flash of light. Frederick cried out in shock and pain as held his head and opened his eyes to see if he had gone blind. When he did and he could see nothing, he cried, "I can't see!"

As he continued to scream and curse, he lashed out blindly, trying to find his opponent. He had made a grievous error in losing his calm, though, and Link made him pay by drawing his Megaton Hammer and rushed towards the flailing noble. He then took a massive swing at the soldier's abdomen and made contact, the hammer smashing into it. The strike dented the armor and knocked the noble to the ground, the noble giving an audible grunt as the wind was knocked out of him and the soldier staggered forward. Link did not stop there, though. He then swung again and brought the hammer down on the noble's helmeted head. This blow dented the noble's helmet and knocked him to the ground. Frederick fell to the ground, either dazed or even unconscious, and did not move much. Link took no chances, though. He brought the hammer down on the noble's head a second time. This time, the helmet was smashed and pieces of metal flew out from the cracks that had formed in the helmet. Link then put away his hammer and drew his sword. He did not want to take any chances against Frederick. He jumped into the air and thrust his sword down onto Frederick's broken helmet, burying the point deep into the noble's head. With that ending blow, the battle was over, if it had not already been over with the second hammer strike before.

After the battle had ended, the Zora girl looked at the fallen noble and then turned her gaze upon Link, who was breathing heavily as he put away his sword and shield, her eyes wide with fear. Link immediately looked behind him to see if there were any more soldiers coming out to face them. When he saw none, he turned and looked at the Zora girl, who looked terrified. "Don't worry," he assured her, opening his hands for her. "I won't hurt you."

When he saw her remain still, thinking that she was still uncertain about whether or not he was friend or foe, he then told her, "My name is Link. I am from Ordon Village. What is your name?"

"I'm Laruto," the girl stammered, still uncertain as to whether or not the Link that was looking at her was savior or a monster no better than her previous captor. After all, she knew the legacy of the Link of her time. She studied Link as he waited for her.

"Are your parents anywhere close?" Link asked.

The girl shook her head. "My parents died in the fighting. My mother died a decade ago when we fought for independence. My father later died during early portions of the current invasion of Zora's Domain."

Link looked downcast. "I'm sorry."

"My brother, Javas, is doing his best to run the domain, but we've been facing constant attacks by the forces of Hyrule."

"Well, let's hope that the fighting is slowing down and that the navy is backing off."

"That will be unlikely," Laruto told him. "The navy won't stop until Zora's Domain is either captured or leveled."

"Hopefully the fleet won't be a threat for much longer," Link answered.

As they were speaking, a dozen Zora warriors jumped out of the water and quickly formed up around Link, drawing their staffs and spears, pointing them at the hero as if he were a villain. "Get away from Princess Laruto now!" one of the Zoras commanded. This Zora had the same coloration as the other Zora warriors but had a fancy staff that had a shell on the end of it with a sharp organic-looking spear. The other Zoras inched closer to Link, who made no attempts to resist and did not draw any of his weapons.

"Stop it Evan!" Laruto cried in an exasperated voice, glaring at him.

"But Princess, that's…" Evan began.

"Yes, I know he's Link! I also know that he just saved my life, killing Count Frederick in the process!"

This took the Zoras aback and she glared at them once more. "Back off, everyone. Link's not an enemy."

The Zoras glanced at each other and hesitated to lower their spears and staffs. "Now!" Laruto roared.

The volume of her voice shocked the Zoras and they reflexively lowered their weapons, those that did not drop them. Once they had lowered their weapons, Laruto said, "That's better." She then approached Evan and asked, "What is the situation out front?"

"We've managed to repulse their fleet's frontal attack. Our scouts and messengers from the island surface indicate that the remnants of the Hyrulean fleet have fallen back. However, before our cannons managed to drive them off, four ships broke off from the main fleet and seemed to sail to a different point on the island. It was as if they were following a series of motorboats and longboats. Several aquatic assault commandos went to pursue the ships but none of them have reported back. In addition, there was a small ship that arrived that helped us ward off the fleet, sinking a few ships in the process. It also went around the island. We have not spotted it yet since we lost contact with the commandos that were sent to report on the pursuing ships."

"The motorboats managed to breach Zora's Fountain," Link told them. "That was where the soldiers that had attacked Laruto came from. My ship is doing its best to hold off the enemy ships."

"Then we should get Zora's Fountain right now," Laruto said.

"Are you sure, Princess?" Evan asked. "There are no defensive batteries in Zora's Fountain and if it is breached, you'll be put in a weakened position."

"Yes, I'm sure," Laruto retorted forcefully. "Okay, what's the situation inside the domain right now?"

"A number of soldiers were able to breach the exterior walls and enter into Zora's Domain," Evan answered. "Javas was leading the force in repelling the invaders the last time I saw him which was when we came to report, we were pushing them back and it was looking to be a rout."

"Evan, you stay here and guard the throne room. I'll go to Zora's Fountain to check on the situation," Laruto declared. "If need be, I can collapse the entrance to the domain, itself, there. It'll cut us off from the fountain, but it'll prevent any attackers from reaching us for a while."

"Let us hope it does not come to that," Evan answered.

Laruto nodded in agreement. Then, as Evan and his group took up defensive positions in the throne room, Laruto went out the back and into the cave, Link following close behind. Evan was tempted to follow but noticing that Link had not drawn any of his weapons, he decided to follow Laruto's orders. She was now the second in command of Zora's Domain, and with Javas still fighting in the domain, itself, she was the one in command at the moment.

Laruto and Link emerged from the cave and looked out over Zora's Fountain. As they did so, they saw Link's ship approaching the dock. The main cannon was retracted the ship was not making any threatening moves towards them. He looked out at the breach and saw floating debris, as well as the sinking remains of a large Hyrulean ship of the line. As his ship arrived, he saw Tetra standing proudly on the bridge, dressed in white pants and a white shirt with a blue vest. Obviously, she did not want to reveal her true nature to the Zoras. She apparently was not that trusting of them.

As the ship pulled up to the docks, the princess went over to the railing and looked down, telling Link, "Those four ships that pursued us have been dealt with. This was easier than expected."

"Were there any other ships that came after the four you dealt with?" Link asked.

Tetra shook her head. "Nope. That was all."

Laruto closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. "She's right. What's left of the invading Hyrulean fleet is in full retreat."

Tetra cocked her head in a surprised fashion. "Wow. I didn't know we did that much damage to them."

"Chances were that once their commando raid by way of Zora's Fountain was defeated, that they knew that it would not be worth it," Laruto surmised.

Link considered what Laruto was saying but had a feeling that there was more to it than that. Anyway, that was not his concern at the moment. For the time being, it appeared as if Zora's Domain was safe. Now, all that was left to worry about, at least for Tetra, was the tunic. He looked over at Laruto, who was talking to herself, taking an account of the situation. "With more than half of our cannons destroyed, we'll be more vulnerable to attack. I should tell Javas that we need to bolster the outer defenses. We should also outfit some defenses for Zora's Fountain as well. Perhaps we should try to move some of the wrecks that were sunk in the fountain and use them to shore up the hole in the wall, or at least make it impassable."

As she continued to talk to herself, she noticed Link focusing on her. "Oh, sorry, I tend to talk to myself when I get flustered," she apologized. "Where are my manners? I owe you a great debt. How may we repay you for the services you rendered to us?"

"Ask for a Zora Tunic! Ask for a Zora Tunic!" Tetra blurted exuberantly.

Link could only smile and reply, "You heard her. I could really use a Zora Tunic. I was wondering if you have it in a child's size, preferably for a girl."

"Sure," Laruto answered. "We've got plenty of Zora Tunics. Just go down to the store on the lower level of the domain. The shop has an overstock of tunics since Hyrule's downward turn."

Tetra then turned a piece of paper into a paper airplane and tossed it to Link. Link caught the plane and unfolded it. "Those are my measurements and my shoe size. I've gotta stay onboard to look after the ship. You get them to make my tunic. And if they have a pair of child size Iron Boots, please get them, too."

Link nodded and then quickly headed back into Zora's Domain. As he was moving away, Laruto turned to him and said, "Actually, we have plenty of…" but the hero was not listening, simply charging into the city. Laruto quickly followed him, calling, "Link, wait!" Tetra merely laughed as the Zora princess chased after Link. She then went back to tending to the ship. She wanted to get out of Zora's Domain as quickly as possible once she got her tunic.

Back inside of Zora's Domain, Link made his way back to the throne room and slowed down, Laruto eventually catching up to him. Once she did so, she told him, "Link, why did you run? I was about to tell you that we have plenty of child-size Zora Tunics in the store of all sizes. She would have easily been able to find one her size."

"And that's why I ran in here," Link answered. "I didn't want Tetra to risk hearing something like that. When we first arrived, we saw an opening in the Hyrulean lines and her first reaction was for me to breach it so we could come in here and either buy or steal a tunic for her."

"I see," Laruto said, putting her fingers to her chin and looking down at the ground in thought. She then looked back up at Link. "What is that girl's name anyway and how did you meet her?"

"Her name is Tetra and she saved me when I was to be executed by Prince Daphnes."

"Tetra?" Laruto gasped.

"You know about her?"

Laruto hesitated before answering. Eventually, she shook her head, answering, "No. I don't, at least not off the top of my head. I just thought I remembered the name from somewhere."

"She is royalty, or close enough," Link told Laruto.

Laruto's expression soon became dark. "You should be careful around Hyrulean Royalty," she cautioned the hero. "They are a brutal, greedy, and self-serving lot. They are not to be trusted at all."

"I know," Link answered. "But Tetra did save my life."

"Tetra is also the name of the imprisoned Princess Zelda's daughter. But she was rumored to have been imprisoned with Zelda."

"This Tetra is Zelda's younger sister, or at least claims to be. Still, I know that I would not have survived my execution attempt without her help."

"Be careful Link," Laruto cautioned. "With Daphnes dead, the forces of Hyrule are going to look for a strong leader to take charge of them. The fact that you killed Daphnes and are working with this Tetra could bolster her claim to the forces of Hyrule. Why does she need this tunic anyway?"

"We're using it to try to get to the Temple of Time so we can save Hyrule," Link answered. He did not know why he was becoming so forthcoming with his goals, but he felt as if he could trust Laruto and that he could also use her advice. Studying Laruto's reaction to his answer, he could tell that the Zora princess had her misgivings.

"Be careful that you aren't being played," she warned him. "Still, your quest is an ambitious one. Many have tried to save Hyrule only to fail for a variety of reasons, many of them being disillusioned with the state the country is in, or the fact that it is seemingly impossible to reverse the flooding, which the armies of Hyrule are taking great advantage of. Still, you will need the tunic for your quest, and since they can cost a pretty Rupee, you'll probably want a voucher."

Link made no response as Laruto fished inside of her cloak's pocket. She then pulled out her hand, producing the voucher. She handed it over to Link, the hero accepting it. Once he took the voucher, he thanked Laruto and made his way out of the throne room, and into Zora's Domain. As he left, Laruto called after him, saying, "The voucher will allow you to get both the Zora Tunic and the Iron Boots for free. Make sure you present it to the shopkeeper before you buy, though."

Link looked back and nodded before continuing to make his way into Zora's Domain. As soon as Link entered the domain, he saw a large pool of water along with a waterfall that fed into it from the throne room above. There were a number of Zoras swimming in the pool, as well as some resting and tending to injured comrades. Peeling his eyes away from the scene, he made his way down a large set of stone steps and arrived at a ledge that overlooked the domain. The ledge seemed to go to the other end of the domain. Link was not interested in that, though, and he quickly looked around, spotting the second set of stairs. Going down the stairs, he eventually came to a door with a sign that read, _Zora's Shop_. Barely stopping, he proceeded to make his way into the shop.

The shop's interior was pretty small. The counter was not too far away. There was a shopkeeper that had been asleep there until the hero had entered, which prompted the shopkeeper to bolt upright. There was a rack that had clothing on it, but it was primarily clothing designed for Zoras. Still, he did find a rack with Zora Tunics on it. Remembering the advice Laruto had given him, he went up to the shopkeeper, who had been sleeping at the counter before Link had entered the shop. The shopkeeper watched as Link explored the small shop. He was apprehensive since he believed that the Link standing before him was the same Link that had stolen Zora's Sapphire all those years ago. After a while, though, he noticed that Link was not making any hostile gestures and eventually realized that this was a different Link. When he came to that realization, he said, "Welcome to the Zora's Shop. Is there anything I can help you find?"

"Actually, yes," Link answered as he made his way to the counter. Once he arrived, he presented the voucher to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper took it and looked at it.

"Surely this is Princess Laruto's handwriting," he stated.

Link also presented another piece of paper to the shopkeeper. "I'm looking for a Zora Tunic that fits these measurements," he told the shopkeeper. "A pair of Iron Boots would also help."

"Sure thing," the shopkeeper answered in a friendly tone. "I've got a ton of tunics in the back, along with pairs of Iron Boots. Just wait here. I'll be back soon."

The shopkeeper than retreated to the back room behind the counter, letting Link wait at the counter. As he waited, he looked at the wares that were being displayed on the shelves behind the counter. He saw arrows, Deku Nuts, fish, and a Red Potion. The prices had gone up, for he found that the cost of the Deku Nuts was now fifty Rupees for ten nuts, and fifty Rupees for a fish. In addition, the Red Potion cost a whopping one hundred Rupees. He checked his inventory and found that he had three empty bottles. He did not want to use his money on what he saw were overpriced items, but he felt as if he had little choice in the matter, for he had a feeling that inflation had come to the whole of the kingdom. As such he made note to ask for a Red Potion when the shopkeeper returned.

After a few minutes, the shopkeeper returned with the Zora Tunic and the pair of Iron Boots. He then handed them to Link and told him, "With the voucher you presented me with earlier, the total comes to zero Rupees."

Link thanked the shopkeeper and took the equipment, stuffing it into his magic sack. As he did so, the shopkeeper asked, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Yes," the hero answered. "May I have a Red Potion?"

"Sure," the shopkeeper answered. "Normally, it would be one hundred Rupees, but since we're having a special today, it'll only be fifty Rupees."

Link gladly handed over the money and had one of his bottles filled with a Red Potion. Link decided to get another potion since it was probably the best deal that he would get. After buying the second potion, the shopkeeper asked, "Will there be anything else?"

Link shook his head. As he turned to leave, the shopkeeper called after him, saying, "Have a nice day, and come again."

After leaving the shop, Link made his way back up the steps, through the throne room and the cavern, and back out to Zora's Fountain, where Laruto was waiting, along with Tetra, who was still onboard the ship. As Link returned, Tetra looked over the railing and called out, "Did you get them?"

Link nodded and showed her the Zora Tunic along with the Iron Boots. "Finally," she cried in relief. "Now we can go and reverse the flood."

Laruto looked at Link and asked, "Is that possible?"

"Without the Triforce, I don't know," Link answered. "Let's hope so."

Tetra extended the ramp down to the makeshift dock and disembarked from the boat. Link handed her the Zora Tunic and the Iron Boots. She put on the tunic and found that it fit perfectly, which she was quick to compliment. Next she put on the Iron Boots, which also fit perfectly. She then tested them out by jumping into the water off the docks and sinking to the bottom. Link waited for several minutes for the girl to surface. Eventually, she did so and she had a large grin plastered on her face. "You wouldn't imagine all the money and valuables that people left down there," she said, showing Link several large Rupees. "Well, finders keepers."

Laruto gave a shrug at the princess's apparent money grubbiness. Still, she did not say anything, knowing that Tetra had helped Link help them in their time of need. Still, Tetra's apparent greed went beyond that of a normal young teenage girl's, in her eyes. As Tetra took off the boots and carried them onto the ship, Laruto took Link aside and told him, "Keep your eyes and ears open, Link. There's something about her that I don't trust."

"I will," Link answered, nodding. In a way, he was relieved that he was not the only one who was put off by Tetra's behavior. He still remembered how Midna had treated him when they had first met, but there had always been something different about the then Twilight Princess, or at least, different than what he was getting from Tetra, besides the fact that Midna never cursed at him.

He was still pondering the last day or so when he heard Tetra call down to him, "Come on, Link. Stop wasting time and get onboard. We've gotta get a move on."

Link immediately looked back at Laruto and wished her and her all the best. Laruto returned his wave and wished him luck on his journey as well. Link then went and boarded his ship. After boarding, he went to the bridge and began to get the ship underway, retracting the boarding ramp. After retracting the ramp, he powered the engine began to leave the docks. As soon as he was out in the deeper water, he turned the ship towards the hole in the mountains that blocked Zora's Fountain from the outside world. Once he got through the small entrance, he powered the throttle to full as he set sail for the next part of his journey. As he left, two Zora warriors came up to Laruto and asked, "So, what is the situation now? Is there hope?"

"There is hope," Laruto answered. She then looked down at the ground and an apprehensive expression crossed her face. "But we are also at a tipping point. We will probably know soon whether or not we will rise again or die a slow death."

The other Zoras looked out over the lake, which was not being infiltrated by the ocean, as Laruto did the same, watching Link's ship until it had cleared the horizon. Once his ship had disappeared over the horizon, she retreated back into Zora's Domain to help repair the damage, and also prepare for the possibility of another attack.

Meanwhile, out at sea, Link sat in his command chair, looking over the maps as he guided his ship out at sea. So far, his compass was pointing south, which was where he needed to go. He was soon joined by an exuberant Tetra, who was still dressed in her blue Zora Tunic. The princess was carrying a series of scrolls and rolled up papers with her. As soon as she arrived, she pulled a table close to the chair and placed the papers and scrolls on the table, unrolling them.

"Okay, it's time to get to work so we can save Hyrule," Tetra began.

Link nodded in agreement. However, before he went to work on the task of finding the undersea Temple of Time, he looked out over the sea with his Hawkeye to make sure that there were no other ships within sight. When he found none, he felt as if he had some time to work with Tetra.

"Finding the Temple of Time underwater is not going to be an easy task," Tetra began. "We have a general location of it but there are no islands, landmarks, or watermarks to use as points of reference."

"So it could be hit or miss," Link concluded.

Tetra nodded. "That's putting it mildly."

"With our tunics and boots, though, we should have enough air and stamina to get to the temple even if we miss our mark," Link said in a hopeful tone.

"We should," Tetra answered more hesitantly. "But I'd rather not test that. There are tons of underwater enemies that we have to deal with, such as Skullfish. And I'd rather not use lightning underwater."

"Nayru's Love should still work," Link suggested.

"It does," the princess said, nodding. "But I'd rather not use much magic until we get inside the temple."

"What's inside the temple?" Link asked.

Tetra then gave a pause. "My sister, her lover, Link; and possibly other soldiers, not the least of which is the Dark Woman."

"Who is the Dark Woman?" Link asked. "I heard of her from another that I met here, a rebel, but he did not say much about her."

"That's because no one knows much about her," Tetra answered. "I'm just going on second hand information, myself. Anyway, from what I heard, she was a woman with strange-colored skin, rounded ears like those of a Human, and fiery hair in humanoid form. She quickly transformed into a monstrous spider-like creature, though, and was fighting both my sister and her Link. She was holding her own against both of them, too."

"It sounds like she was good," Link commented.

"Just because she was against my sister, Link, and the Hyrulean Royal Family does not make her a good guy," Tetra admonished. "I heard you fought Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows."

Link nodded.

"Well, Veran hated Hyrule and its royal family, fighting against them and their soldiers. I would not classify her as a good guy."

Tetra made a good point. Still, there was something very familiar about the description that Tetra had made of the Dark Woman. She sounded very much like Midna in appearance, at least in her transformed state. He wondered for a fleeting moment if the Dark Woman was, indeed, Midna. If that were the case, then having her help them on their quest would be an incredible boon.

"Anyway, getting back on topic," Tetra continued, "I think I've been able to locate the point that is the most likely place where the Temple of Time is located."

Tetra then pointed on one of the charts and cried, "There!"

Link studied the map and found that the point was in what looked to be the middle of nowhere. "It doesn't look like there are any landmarks or watermarks to find the point," he said.

"You're right," Tetra said. However, there was a note of confidence and victory in her voice. "That is why I used a map grid. I managed to mark each square on the grid and I've overlaid it with the regular map." She then placed a transparent overlay over the map, lining up the edges perfectly. After doing so, she told him, "Each square represents about ten kilometers in length. Using that as a benchmark, we can easily identify the location where we need to dive in order to find the Temple of Time."

Link studied Tetra's map and grid and found that she was right. The only issue would be if they ran into any navy patrols. "What are the chances of us running into naval patrols?" Link asked.

"Pretty small right now," Tetra answered. "With Prince Daphnes dead, the other nobles are gonna be fighting amongst themselves for islands and the navies of Hyrule. None of them particularly like one another and they'll be doing their best to carve out their own little fiefdoms, particularly the high-ranking dukes. You said you also killed a noble in the fighting in Zora's Domain, right?"

Link nodded. "Count Frederick."

"That's a big kill," Tetra whistled. "He was Duke Magnus's right hand man. The forces of Hyrule are probably in disarray right now. Many of the counts and other lower nobles are quickly making alliances with the big players, such as Duke Magnus, Duke Martin, Duchess Catherine, and Duke Ferdinand. I'd guess that the force attacking Ordona Province is the only force that has any cohesion. And that one is likely under the command of Duke Martin, Martin being the Admiral of the Navies of Hyrule. And it's unfortunate, for them, that they're trying to take a place like Ordona. Despite their badmouthing of the Ordonians, Ordon Province had withstood assault after assault and repulsed the forces of Hyrule time and time again. It'll take a while for them to make any headway against the province. And with any luck, Hyrule will return to normal, geographically speaking, before they get anywhere against Ordona. And without the Great Sea, all those ships will be are either broken pieces of scrap metal or wood, or fortresses where the captain's will become dukes, or even princes or kings. You can likely expect a lot of soldiers to either defect to various other armies or form mercenary bands of their own." Tetra then looked back at Link with a gleam in her eyes. "Okay, hero, plot the course and take us to the Temple of Time!" the princess commanded. "Let's wreck the plans of all these nobles and save Hyrule!"

Link immediately went back to his console and pushed energy into the ship's throttle. The ship immediately accelerated forward as the duo proceeded on their journey to save the land of Hyrule. Still, as they went, Link kept a close eye on his scanners and on the horizon with his Hawkeye. He did not want to be caught off guard this close to a major turning point in his journey.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

Link piloted the ship to the precise coordinates that Tetra had specified on the map. As they made their way to the coordinates, they came across a large wooden ship that looked to be the size of a frigate. Checking the flag, they found that it belonged to the Hyrulean Royal Navy. The ship quickly spotted them and turned to its port side so as to expose its starboard broadside cannons to Link's vessel. Link, seeing the ship turning so as to get into a good firing position, pushed a button on his command console and extended the main cannon from the ship's deck. The cannon rose into the air and a lever lifted an explosive cannonball into the cannon. Once the cannon was loaded, the rear end of the cannon closed, signaling that it was ready to fire. Link targeted the frigate's waterline. When the cannon fired, the cannon recoiled backwards and the ship lurched a bit as the weapon discharged. An explosive lead ball was sent flying through the air at supersonic speeds, hurtling towards the waterline of the wooden frigate. The ball struck the frigate right at the waterline and exploded, blowing a massive hole into the ship. The frigate immediately began to take on water and listed to the side. As it listed, it began to sink into the water. A few members of the crew, likely officers, managed to get to a lifeboat and lower it into the water. A few officers, among them the commanding officer, possibly even a captain, if the medals on the man's chest were any indication, lowered the boat into the water and began to row away from the doomed vessel as the rest of the crew cried out to him for help, some of them even diving into the water from the doomed vessel.

Tetra watched the display and smiled. "These fools are worthless," she scoffed as the captain tried to flee the doomed vessel, shaking his fist at Link's vessel. This merely caused the princess to smile even more. With no warning, she stretched out her hand and the water near the lifeboat soon became turbulent. Suddenly, two watery tentacles rose from the water and lashed out at the lifeboat, grabbing it. The tentacles soon wrapped around the boat and lifted it up into the air. Then, with terrifying strength, they tore the lifeboat apart, hurling the debris in all directions, leaving the captain and his officers to fall back into the water. With no lifeboat to ride in, and no other ships in the vicinity that Tetra could sense, the captain and the officers were doomed to a slow death. This did not bother Tetra at all. Link, however, had watched the proceedings and Laruto's warnings about the Hyrulean Royal Family were quickly coming back to the front of his mind. Still, with the frigate's threat having been dealt with, he proceeded to follow the map to his next destination.

As he did so, Tetra came into the cabin and told him, "Good shot with that cannon."

Link gave a half-hearted smile at the compliment. Still, Tetra looked out over the Great Sea and continued, saying, "Keep your eyes peeled Link. We may see more of these ships."

"Do you think they know our plans?" Link asked.

"I don't see how," Tetra answered, shrugging. "No one knows that I have the Light Force and the Ocarina of Time. Hyrule Castle Island has sunk so no one will be able to look for the relics to be able to warn the nobles that we may have them. Most other ships we face should just be patrol vessels."

Tetra's statement did little to reassure Link. Still, he knew that they were close to their destination and he did not want their journey to come to a bad end this close to success. To that end, he continued to direct the ship to the area that was just above the submerged Temple of Time, keeping watch for any sentry vessels.

It took them a couple more hours to arrive at their destination. Along the way, they encountered a number of small patrol boats that were about the size of their own vessel, along with a couple of corvettes. The ships were easily dealt with and their small ship did not suffer any noticeable damage from the patrol ships that they had encountered. After every ship that sank, though, Tetra would sing, "And another one bites the dust!"

Once they arrived at the proper grid, Link double-checked his map to make sure that they were at the proper grid for their drop to the Temple of Time. Seeing that he was in the proper grid, he guided the ship to the precise point that he needed to be in order for them to make their drop as close to the Temple of Time as possible. Following the precise instructions on the map, he carefully steered the ship to the exact point where Tetra had told them to make the drop.

Just as he was about to rise and alert Tetra to the fact that they had arrived, the princess anxiously rushed onto the bridge and excitedly asked, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

"I was just about to come out to tell you that we've arrived," Link answered. "You should put on your Zora Tunic and Iron Boots and make the necessary preparations for the descent."

"Are you sure we're in the right position?" Tetra asked.

"Positive," Link answered. "I followed the instructions to the letter. Is there anything else I need to know about the Temple's current condition that you haven't already told me? What can we expect to face?"

"Nothing more than maybe a few Skullfish," Tetra answered. "The armies that were fighting down there in the temple are all in stasis."

"Once the waters recede, will we be facing any enemy soldiers?"

"Not to my knowledge," Tetra answered. "Most of them were teleported to locations above the flood once the land was flooded. The rest either died in the battle or drowned. That's how my father was able to cement his rule over Hyrule so quickly. Still, don't let that little tidbit of information make you complacent. In order to restore Hyrule, we're gonna have to take the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage from my sister and Link. That's not gonna be easy if things go wrong."

"How will we do that without being put into stasis, ourselves?" Link asked.

"That's what the Ocarina of Time is for," Tetra answered proudly. "Stay here while I go change. I'll be back in a bit."

She then went to a back room behind the bridge and put on her Zora Tunic and Iron Boots. After a few moments, the door opened and Tetra came stomping back out onto the bridge in her full aquatic regalia. She then went up to Link and asked, "So, how do I look?"

"You look fine," Link answered, not knowing why she asked the question in the first place. The Zora Tunic and Iron Boots were designed for utility, not fashion.

"Good," Tetra answered.

"Is there anything else we must do before the dive?"

"One thing," Tetra answered.

She then took out the Ocarina of time and told Link, "Stand by me. This requires us to be in close proximity."

Link did as Tetra bade and once he was standing next to the princess, she put the ocarina to her lips and blew into it. The melody that came out was a calm and soothing melody that Link recognized from one of the howling songs he had howled in his Wolf Form to summon the Hero's Shade during the Invasion of Twilight. When the song was finished, though, he felt no different from before. He looked down at Tetra and asked, "What was that song and what does it do?"

"The Song of Time has many powers and uses," Tetra answered. "The one that we are using is its ability to breach a stasis field and allow us to interact with the people inside without becoming trapped inside."

Link nodded and then asked, "Is everything ready?"

"Not quite," Tetra answered. She then proceeded to crouch and close her eyes. After a second, a green sphere of energy formed in her hands and a high-pitched hum began to sound. The hum rose in pitch until Tetra raised her hands, and the green ball of energy, above her head. After a second, she let go of the ball of energy and it hovered in the air. "Now, everything is ready," she said smugly.

"What is that?" Link asked.

"Farore's Wind," the princess answered. "If things go badly, we're gonna have to get out of there pretty quick. Still, it's just a precaution. If everything goes as planned, it won't be necessary, save for me to get this ship to some body of water. I put a good deal of Rupees into this. I want to get something back of my investment. Heck, I just might actually keep the ship anyway," she added with a jovial smile.

Link nodded, realizing that there was a chance that things could go very badly. Still, he remained hopeful that these precautions would prove to be unnecessary. With no further ado, Link and Tetra headed over to the retracted boarding ramp for the vessel. He went over to the railing and extended it outward. He then extended a small ladder down to the water, knowing that they would need to be able to climb back onto the ship. Before getting into the water, though, Link unslung his magic sack and took out his Zora Armor. He then put it on and went over to the edge of the ship along with Tetra. Then as one, the two jumped into the water making a noticeable splash as they hit the water.

As the two submerged themselves beneath the waves, Link's mask formed over his mouth, allowing him to breathe underwater. As for Tetra, her tunic allowed her to breathe properly underwater without any aesthetic modifications to her clothing. Her Iron Boots immediately caused her to sink to the bottom of the Great Sea like a stone. Link followed behind the princess, taking out his Double Clawshots in order to ward off any aquatic enemies that they may encounter. There were a number of Skullfish that were prowling the waters and they were quick to lock onto Link and Tetra, but the hero quickly dealt with them with accurate shots from his Double Clawshots. The skeletal fish were nothing more than bothersome pests, which were shattered immediately upon making contact with the claws of the Clawshots.

Along with the Skullfish, there were a number of metallic balls with long, sharp spikes on them called Spikes. The Spikes floated towards Tetra, prompting Link to fire his Clawshot at the closest one. The claw extended from the launcher and struck the Spike, causing its spikes to retract. A shot from his second Clawshot shattered the surprising fragile metallic ball, reducing it to metallic shards. The other Spikes that were floating towards Tetra were annihilated by the princess as she unleashed blasts of magic at each of them, single blasts being more than sufficient to shatter the metallic enemies. Soon, the area was clear of any enemies.

As they continued to descend, Link felt a strange sensation come over his body. Looking at his hand, he saw a shimmering glow surround it, along with the rest of his body. After a second, the glow disappeared, as did the sensation. "Don't worry Link," Tetra called up to him. "We're passing through the stasis barrier. The Song of Time will ensure that we don't emerge from the field a few dozen millennia from our original time."

Link gave a smile at Tetra's statement. "We're almost on the floor," he soon heard Tetra inform him.

Sure enough, after a short while, the seafloor was within sight of the duo. Link still scanned the area and saw many frozen Skullfish above him. He figured that they had swum through the stasis barrier and were now frozen along with the rest of Hyrule. As they were descending, though, they saw a large number of Shell Blades, carnivorous oyster-like creatures with a single muscle connecting the two halves; and Spikes, frozen on the bottom of the seafloor. Many of them had formed a group right below the landing area almost as if they were expecting the duo to land there. Despite appearing to be in stasis, along with the rest of the surface, their appearance unnerved Link and he took appropriate measures. Wasting no time, he took out the Bomb Bag and drew out a number of Water Bombs. The bombs looked like a bomb being eaten by a fish head. Pushing on the two red "eyes" of the Water Bomb, Link activated the bombs and dropped them in the water, allowing them to fall into the ranks of enemies. After deploying the bombs, Link readied a Clawshot and fired it at one of the suspended Spikes. The claw extended from the Clawshot and struck the Spike, causing the metallic ball to retract its spikes, leaving it vulnerable to attack. Tetra took advantage of this and unleashed a pulse of water through the water. The pulse slammed into the Spike and sent it flying, stripping the metallic skin from the ball eventually leaving nothing but metallic debris. The other Spike melted by two energy beams emitted from the girl's eyes. As she descended, she continued to take out suspended Spikes, not wanting to accidentally land on their spikes.

As for the Water Bombs, they landed among the enemies arrayed on the seafloor below the Hylians. Despite being frozen in stasis, Link did not want to take any foolish chances. The bombs touched down on the seafloor and detonated, sending shockwaves through the water. The shockwaves were visible as rings formed on the seafloor, tearing into the Shell Blades and Spikes. The explosions tore apart the enemies, splitting Shell Blades in half and shattering Spikes as they comprehended the threat posed by the bombs too late to be able to do anything about it. After the barrage of Water Bombs had finished detonating, the landing zone was clear of all enemies. Now it did not matter if the Shell Blades had been in stasis or not. They were no longer a threat at all.

Link and Tetra touched softly down on the ground. As they touched down, Link heard the muffled clank of Tetra's Iron Boots touching the stone floor. Once they touched down, Link looked around and recognized that he was floating in the middle of the remains of Hyrule Castle Town. The buildings all around him appeared to be unoccupied but were still in good repair. Not too far away from where he was standing, he saw several Hylians frozen in stasis. Their mouths were closed and it appeared as if they were holding their breaths. "While the land of Hyrule is in stasis, time has not stood completely still," Tetra explained. "About a second has passed and the people here know that water has encroached upon them."

"How long do they have?" Link asked.

"They can last for quite a while longer," Tetra answered. "Millennia at least. After all, only a second has gone by for them."

The answer did little to reassure Link. Eventually, Tetra looked over to him and said, "Come on. We've gotta get to the Temple of Time. There's no telling how long we'll be able to stay down here undetected."

"What is there to worry about? Isn't everyone down here in stasis and won't anyone who comes after us be in stasis, too?" Link asked.

"They should be," Tetra answered tentatively. "But you saw the suspicious placing of Shell Blades and Spikes. While Daphnes is, or rather, was, the strongest of the magicians in the Royal Family, bar my sister and father, there are a large number of magicians in the nobility. Almost every noble of note has some form of magic. And while the Ocarina of Time was required for us to get down here safely, we can't assume that it's the only way to get down here safely. We need to get to the temple and get the other two Triforce pieces as quickly as possible. If something's going on, we're gonna need all the power we can get to face it. Besides, even after we recede the floodwaters, we're still gonna have to deal with my dad and possibly my sister and her lover, too."

Link agreed and quickened his pace as Tetra proceeded to make her way straight towards the Castle Town's Temple of Time. As they proceeded, they continued to scan the underwater town for any suspended enemies that they may have to fight when Hyrule was restored. Sure enough, there were a number of Knights of Hyrule in stasis, but they appeared to be armed with swords, spears, pole-arms, and bows and arrows. The rank of Knights behind the front ranks was armed with bows and arrows and had already drawn back on their bows and looked to be a fraction of a second away from firing. Merely a dozen yards away, Link saw a much larger group of soldiers that had light armor and were equipped with swords and shields. The expressions on the soldiers' faces, though, indicated that they had a great deal of hatred for the Knights. The faces of these Knights were obscured.

"Those are the good guys," Tetra told Link, motioning towards the Knights. "These were the Knights of Hyrule that stood up for the people, rather than blindly following the king. As you can see, they're vastly outnumbered." She continued to gaze at the scene a few seconds before emitting a mournful sigh. "Come on," she said, turning away from the Knights and continuing towards the temple. "We've gotta get to the temple."

Link agreed and followed after Tetra. Still, he remained on guard as he swam after Tetra. As the two made their way towards the temple, they found more soldiers and Knights. These soldiers and Knights were engaged in close combat, swords clashing with swords, some soldiers even in the process of already being stabbed or suffering even more severe and graphic wounds. As they approached the outer garden area and pool just outside the Temple of Time, the number of soldiers increased even more. Not only that, but Link also saw Zoras and Gorons fighting alongside the Hylians that he suspected were the rebels. Despite the scene being a three dimensional picture, he could tell that the rebels were pushing back the forces of Hyrule. Still, he already knew how the battle turned out. Still, despite the fighting, they had a clear path into the temple. The duo followed the path and made their way to the entrance of the temple, which was sealed with a large door. Feeling that he would need the leverage granted by his Iron Boots, Link put them on, his feet clanking on the stone floor as he sank the few inches to the seafloor.

As he approached the door, he looked for a handle so he could either push or pull the door, trying to see how to open the temple's door. Eventually, he found a plate on the door that indicated that he had to push on it. He leaned up against the plate and pushed on it with all of his might. He felt the plate move and suddenly, there was a crack in the door. Link could feel the water pushing against the door and it did not take any more effort to push the door open. As the door was pushed open, water began to flood into the temple, the rush of water pushing Link and Tetra into the temple, even their Iron Boots were having difficulty keeping them on the ground.

As soon as they had entered the temple, Tetra looked back at the door and began to chant in an alien language. As she did so, her eyes began to glow and what looked to be a barrier formed over the entrance to the temple. Suddenly, water stopped flowing into the temple, though the water already came to Link's waist, and Tetra's chest. Next, the princess cast another spell on the water and pushed it back out into the ocean outside. The water drained from the temple as if someone had pulled the plug in a bathtub. Link's Iron Boots prevented him from being pumped out of the temple with the water. Once the water was out of the temple, Tetra cast a spell on the door, causing it to close once more. Once that was finished, the two were alone and free to explore the temple.

With the temple now free of water, Link looked around and saw two figures close to the other end of the hall standing just above an altar, looking through a doorway. Before approaching them, though, Link took off his Iron Boots but kept his Zora Armor on for the time being. Tetra then removed her own Iron Boots and Zora Tunic.

"Wow, I have to say I'm glad to be out of that," she sighed as she cast her Zora Tunic aside. "Well, let's get down to business," she quickly quipped, looking at the other end of the hall.

She proceeded to make her way to the figures at the other end of the hall. "Wait!" Link called to her. Seeing that she was not listening, he rushed after her.

When he arrived at the girl, was about to stop her when he looked over at the figures and saw that they were none other than the Link and Zelda of this time. The Link of this time held his sword high above his head. The blade was glowing a deep blue. Zelda had her hand outstretched and a ball of golden energy had formed in the palm of her hand. He then turned to Tetra only to find that the girl was no longer at his side. Looking ahead, he found that the princess was rushing towards the frozen duo. Rushing after her, he quickly intercepted the girl and stood in front of her, grabbing hold of her arm. Tetra was not amused.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Making sure you don't spring any traps," Link answered sternly. "For all we know, there's magic at work in them that we don't know about."

"We need the Triforce pieces for this plan to work," Tetra roared. "They have them. Wisdom for Zelda; Courage for Link. Now let me get them!"

"Shouldn't you stop and see if there are any traps here first?" Link asked. "Both Link and Zelda have pieces of the Triforce inside of them. You don't think they'll have some sort of defense up? Link's sword is glowing. Something has to be protecting them from dying in case someone else tried doing what we are doing."

"How could they have defenses up? They're trapped in stasis. And besides, the stasis field is what's protecting them from outside threats," Tetra added. "Without the Ocarina of Time, there's no way to get down here."

"So why didn't Daphnes come down here and take the Triforce pieces for himself?" Link asked. "He had the Ocarina of Time, along with the Light Force. He doesn't strike me as being someone who is loyal to his family if it doesn't serve his own interests. Besides, your sister and her lover were fighting in a battle against a powerful enemy. Chances are they have a defense of some sort already up," Link answered. Tetra gasped at Link's answer.

"Who told you that?" she demanded, referring to Link's knowledge of Older Link and Zelda's fight against the Dark Woman.

"I came across Rauru after my first escape from Hyrule Castle Island," Link answered. "He told me all about what has happened in Hyrule."

"And you believed him?" the princess asked, seemingly in shock.

Link nodded. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because he's a Sage," Tetra answered, perturbed, crossing her arms. "They weren't much better than Granddad." Link noticed that Tetra said "Granddad", someone whom she had not mentioned before, unless she was actually referring to King Nohansen. He did not shake off the bad feeling that he had, but he put it to the back of his mind as Tetra continued, "They, too, just wanted power. Like I said, Hyrule's a cesspool. There isn't anyone good in this entire land that's willing to do anything to help. All the good people were sealed down here. Now, I'm gonna get those Triforce pieces so we can restore Hyrule."

Link followed Tetra as she went over to Zelda and Link. Link still had his misgivings and he drew his sword and shield in order to be ready should he have to fight the Link and Zelda of this time. Tetra quickly went over to the altar and made her way to the small set of stairs to her left that took her to a raised floor just behind the altar. She made her way over to the frozen Zelda and stretched out her hand.

She looked at Zelda and saw the Triforce mark glowing on the back of her hand. Being careful to not touch the ball of energy, she stretched her hand towards Zelda's Triforce mark and closed her eyes. Soon, the Light Force flowed throughout her body and she began to glow a bright gold. Soon, her glowing hand made contact with the Triforce of Wisdom. As she did so, she attempted to pull the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda's hand. Her hand trembled as electrical sparks formed between her hand and Zelda's Triforce mark. She gritted her teeth as she exerted more of her energy into trying to pry the Triforce from Zelda. However, she had no success.

"Damn it," she swore. "Why won't this thing come out?"

"What's wrong?" Link asked, approaching the princess

"This blasted Triforce of Wisdom won't come out of Zelda!" Tetra cried, turning to the hero. "I'm using every trick I know to try to pull it out and nothing seems to work!"

"Perhaps the fact that Zelda is still in stasis is the reason the Triforce of Wisdom won't come out," Link suggested. "Right now, the Triforce of Wisdom is a part of Zelda. Maybe you're moving it, but only the amount that it would move in the time period that Zelda is currently experiencing."

Tetra frowned. She had to admit that Link had a point. That would easily explain why the Triforce of Wisdom was not coming out of Zelda. The thing was, though, that she did not want to admit that he was right. "Okay, so any ideas on how to remove it then, Binky?" she queried mockingly.

Link considered the possibilities. The fact that there were people outside the temple trapped under the sea in stasis meant that he could not risk doing anything that could lower the stasis field for fear of either drowning or crushing them under the weight of the sea if the stasis field was removed. "Perhaps you could use the Song of Time to speed up time only in the temple," Link suggested. "That way we could get access to the Triforce of Wisdom while keeping the rest of Hyrule in stasis until we can bring the pieces together."

"Easier said than done," Tetra scoffed. "We'd have to deal with both Link and Zelda, too. I don't know about you, but I think that that's a very _bad_ thing. Come up with something else!"

Link gritted his teeth and began to walk around the temple floor for a bit. He soon caught sight of the doorway leading into the inner sanctum of the temple. Looking inside, he noticed a large spider-like figure with six arms, brandishing what looked to be a spear. It also appeared to be reaching for something, though whatever it was seemed to no longer be there, for the creature was reaching into thin air. The creature strongly resembled Midna's transformed state from when she wore the Fused Shadows. He walked up to the creature to see if it was, indeed, Midna. Soon, he saw the familiar form of the Fused Shadows in the center of the six tentacle-like arms. This had to be Midna. Still, he wondered how she had gotten all of the Fused Shadows back since one of them had been destroyed by Ganondorf.

Behind the creature was a young Hylian boy lying near the Master Sword, which was jutting out of its pedestal. The boy was wearing clothes similar to Link's. The boy looked a lot like a younger version of Link and the hero strongly suspected that this was the Young Link that Rauru had told him about. Looking at the ground, he saw drops blood staining the floor leading up to the Master Sword. Looking down at the boy, he saw a hole in the boy's torso. He then focused on the Master Sword. It appeared to be glowing, indicating that it was the source of the stasis field. That meant that he would need to pull it in order to lower the stasis field. However, doing so while Hyrule was still flooded would kill everyone in Hyrule. He then turned his focus back to the creature, hoping that it was, indeed, Midna. He continued to examine it and could not help but notice the similarity to Midna in her Fused Shadow transformed state. Still, he knew that staring at the creature would not bring them any closer to solving the puzzle that befell them at the moment. With that, he went back out into temple's main hallway and continued to try to think of a way to get the two Triforce pieces without having to drown everyone in Hyrule.

He made his way over to Older Link and examined him. Looking at the teen's left hand, he looked to see if the Triforce mark was glowing on it. So far, his hand did not have any markings on it but Link wondered something. He then went to approach the frozen Link. As he approached, the Triforce mark on the frozen Link's hand began to glow. As the Triforce mark began to glow, he heard a voice inside his head telling him to touch the glowing mark. Seeing as he had no better ideas, he reached out and touched the mark. The mark immediately began to glow and the glow quickly became so bright that Link reflexively closed his eyes. The glow grew until it engulfed both people. After less than a second at its full intensity, the glow died. Once the glow died, Link looked down at his hand and concentrated on it, willing the Triforce mark to appear on his hand. As he did this, the Triforce mark glowed and showed the presence of the Triforce of Courage. Soon, the voice in his head told him, _Do the same with Zelda and the Triforce of Wisdom_.

Listening to the voice, Link went over to Zelda, who was being cursed at by Tetra. Tetra's line of profanity was quite startling for one as young and supposedly proper as she was supposed to be, being a princess. Somehow, Link was not terribly surprised at the verbal abuse that Tetra was hurling at Zelda and the Triforce of Wisdom. A part of him simply wanted to walk away and let her vent. Still, he knew that he had a duty to perform, and that he was likely the one who would be able to bring out the Triforce of Wisdom, which would probably only annoy Tetra even more. As such, he went towards Zelda to try to draw out the Triforce of Wisdom. As he approached, Tetra turned to him and vented her frustrations on him. "There you are Binky. What were you doing just now? I've been here trying everything and nothing is working!"

"I've found a way to get the Triforce pieces out of Link and Zelda," Link answered. "I was able to get the Triforce of Courage simply by touching the mark on the back of Link's hand."

"Great," Tetra quipped sarcastically. "Too bad that won't work for me!" she roared. "I've never had the Triforce of Wisdom, unlike you with the Triforce of Courage. It probably only worked for you because you're a hero and you once wielded the damn thing. I haven't!"

Link never remembered telling her that he had wielded the Triforce of Courage before, but it did make sense. Still, he remembered the voice in his head and he told Tetra. "With the Triforce of Courage, along with the Light Force, we may be able to pull out the Triforce of Wisdom as well."

"_You_ do it," Tetra scoffed. "Not that you'll be able to. There's no way that thing is coming out without something big happening."

The girl then went back to her whining. Link, however, made his way over to Zelda. When he approached her, he saw that the Triforce of Wisdom was already glowing in her hand. As soon as he arrived at the princess, he reached out his hand and touched her Triforce mark. Just as with Older Link, there was a bright glow that engulfed the two for a brief moment. After that moment, the glow faded and Link looked down at his hand. He then saw the Triforce of Wisdom glowing in his hand along with the Triforce of Courage. This was great. They had all of the necessary tools to restore Hyrule, hopefully. As for Tetra, her eyes went wide at the scene and her mouth hung open in shock. This was not supposed to happen. How could a fool without any magic to speak of manage to draw out two pieces of the Triforce? Link soon went over to Tetra, who was still staring at him, agape with amazement.

"How the hell did you manage that?" Tetra asked, her expression showing her shock, as well as some envy.

"I don't know," Link answered. "Maybe it was the fact that I had a piece of the Triforce in my hand already."

"Well never mind that right now. We've got a job to do."

Link nodded. He knew what came next. This was the moment that he had been waiting for ever since he had learned of the situation in Hyrule. Now it was time to save the nation. Closing his eyes, he willed the two pieces of the Triforce to rise from his body. His body glowed and the two golden triangles rose out of his body and hovered over him. They soon touched at the edges and the bottom two thirds of the complete Triforce had formed. Tetra then closed her eyes and willed the Light Force inside of her to rise and manifest itself. She hoped that the Light Force would be a sufficient replacement for the Triforce of Power to allow them to restore Hyrule. The Light Force rose from Tetra's body and levitated over to the two Triforce pieces. It was smaller than the Triforce of Power, which was not surprising to Link, and settled on top of the two Triforce pieces. It was too small for its bottom to reach the tops of the other two Triforce pieces so it simply filled as much of the space as possible. Link was beginning to worry that it would not be enough to overturn King Nohansen's wish. He then banished the concern and focused on the two Triforce pieces and the Light Force, praying that it would be enough to recede the floodwaters and save Hyrule.

Tetra's eyes went wide with delight and lust as she saw the Light Force float on top of the two Triforce pieces. "My gods, it's every bit as powerful as I expected."

Unable to contain herself, the princess rushed towards the relic and reached out to touch it. However, before she was able to reach it, Link touched the relic, closed, his eyes, and made his wish. As he made his wish, the two pieces of the Triforce began to glow a bright gold. Two seconds later, the Light Force also began to glow, but its glow was not as strong as that of the two Triforce pieces. As the pieces of the Triforce and the Light Force were glowing, Link prayed that the power inside the three relics would be sufficient to overturn King Nohansen's wish and restore Hyrule. A high-pitched chime began to sound as the relics glowed. The volume and pitch began to rise as the relics ascended into the air. Soon, the glow became so bright that Link and Tetra had to close their eyes. After a few moments, the chime died and the bright glow seemed to die with it. Link then opened his eyes and glanced at the Triforce pieces and the Light Force, watching them descend to the floor, where they landed softly and then clattered, their glow dying. Tetra quickly rushed over to the relics and scooped them up into her arms, her grin resembling a slasher smile. Link, however, merely hoped that the wish had been successful and that the floodwaters had receded and Hyrule had been restored.

To see if the wish was successful, Link rushed to the temple's entrance and opened the door, wanting to see if the floodwaters had receded, ignoring the princess in the process. Looking over at the other Link and Zelda, though, he knew that the stasis field was still up at least inside the temple. When he opened the door, water came flooding into the temple, forcing the hero to shove the doors closed once more, lest the temple be completely flooded. Only his Iron Boots prevented him from being swept to the back of the temple by the water. As the doors closed, he scanned his surroundings, wanting to make sure that there was not too much water on the temple floor. There were some puddles on the floor, but for the most part, the temple floor was relatively dry.

He returned to the altar where Tetra was waiting and she faced him, asking, "So, what's it like out there? Did it work?"

Link shook his head. "The floodwaters have not receded. It appears as if the wish did not work.

Tetra's eyes went wide with shock. "What?" she roared. Link nodded glumly.

"Great! What are you gonna do now?" the princess whined, foisting all of the responsibility on Link.

The hero considered the possibilities. He looked over at Tetra and suggested, "We could try wishing only for the floodwaters to recede."

"That won't work," the princess quipped in an annoyed tone. "The wishes are connected. You can't wish for the floodwaters to recede but not for the lifting of the stasis field." She then grunted. "There's nothing more for us to do here. We've got two pieces of the Triforce and the Light Force. With that, we should be able to take out King Nohansen. In addition, we also have the protection of the Song of Time for getting around in the stasis field. Let's get out of here."

"We may need something more," Link told her. "King Nohansen may be stronger than Zelda and the other Link."

"Well we're not doing anything worthwhile down in this flooded hellhole!" the princess boomed. "We need to plan our next move, preferably up above the Great Sea."

Link considered his options. There was little they could do at the moment. He had no magic and the power of the Triforce pieces and Light Force had not been sufficient to reverse King Nohansen's wish. Still, he was not ready to give up just yet. While Tetra went off into a corner mumbling and cursing, Link walked around the temple's main hall and studied all of it. He checked every rock to see if there was anything out of place. He wanted to exhaust all other options before leaving the temple in defeat. As he was examining the temple, he overheard Tetra's cursing and whining. He sighed, trying to figure out how they could save Hyrule. He had suspected that even with just the two Triforce pieces and the Light Force, that King Nohansen's wish should have been undone and Hyrule restored. He then stood up and was about to head on over to Tetra to tell her that he was ready to leave when his attention was then drawn to the temple's inner sanctum and the Master Sword, which was still glowing. Link could only stare at the Master Sword in surprise. There was no way it should have been glowing unless there was something else going on here. Could it have something to do with the wish?

"Could that really be the answer?" Link asked himself. He then decided to go to the Masters Sword and try to find out if the Master Sword was somehow keeping the stasis field intact.

As Link had been examining the temple for any possible clue as to how to recede the floodwaters and possibly lift the stasis seal, Tetra had been cursing and whining the whole time. After she had gotten a hold of herself, she simply stood by the frozen form of Zelda and proceeded to watch Link examine the temple, smirking as he did so. "Does he really think he'll find any clues just wandering the temple?" she murmured with scorn.

Still, she knew that he was smarter than he looked. He had figured out something that she had been unable to. Heck, why did she even need the floodwaters to be receded and the stasis field to be lifted in the first place? All she wanted was to take the Triforce pieces along with the Light Force and use them to kill King Nohansen. With all of that power, she should have sufficient power to do so. Things would go more easily with Link there, but she no longer really needed him, if she ever really had in the first place. Then, once the king was dead, or powerless, she could simply wish for the floodwaters to recede and stasis field to be removed and then she would be the one in charge of Hyrule. She could remove the stasis field to let the floodwaters crush the soldiers fighting for the king, along with any rebels that might not go along with her desires and then recede them after her enemies were destroyed

Now, all that was left to do was to think about what to do with Link. He was a very skilled fighter, as evidenced by the fact that he had managed to kill Prince Daphnes. However, he also had a very strong conscience and adhered strictly to his code of ethics and morals. There was no way that he would simply abandon the people of Hyrule under a flooded and frozen kingdom. He also would not like her plans for ruling Hyrule. He'd simply view it as a power play. And while it technically _would_ be a power play, she knew that she was a better leader for Hyrule than King Nohansen, who was too drunk on power and was away from the kingdom. He would likely try to talk her down, and failing that, might even try to stop her. While she had a feeling that he would do everything in his power to try to stop her without using deadly force on her, if push came to shove, she would not take such a foolish risk that he would not use deadly force when he has been willing to kill evil people before. Not only that, but there was also the Dark Woman that she had to worry about. The Dark Woman was said to have held her own against both Zelda and her Link. If the Dark Woman was somehow freed and joined together with the Link out of time, they would be a formidable force, and definitely a hindrance to her plans.

As she was contemplating the various scenarios, she noticed Link heading back towards the inner sanctum. "Hey, where are you going?" she called over to him.

"I have a theory on how we me be able to lift the stasis field," the hero answered.

"What is it?"

"The Master Sword," Link answered.

Tetra tilted her head to the side in question at Link's answer when she looked back into the sanctum and found the Master Sword sticking out of the pedestal not too far away from Young Link and the spider-like figure that she suspected was the Dark Woman in her transformed state. Suddenly, a feeling of dread welled up inside of her. Rumors had stated that the Master Sword was an artifact whose powers could neutralize even the powers of the Triforce. She also knew that Link was the Hero of Twilight, one of the heroes capable of pulling the Master Sword. If he were able to wield the Master Sword and also team up with the Dark Woman, which he would since the Dark Woman also fought for justice and good, they would be incredibly dangerous. She knew what she had to do for the good of her plans. She had always intended on ditching Link once the floodwaters had receded and the military forces of Hyrule had been devastated as a result. Now, she would simply be ditching him a little sooner and more directly, and permanently. She closed her eyes and soon the blue crystal of Nayru's Love formed over her body.

As for Link, he was making his way back into the sanctum. As he made his way towards the Master Sword, he took one more look at the spider-like creature. If it were, indeed, Midna, then this would be most fortuitous. If it was someone, or something, else, then anything could happen. One thing he knew, though, was that most spider-like creatures that he had encountered had not been friendly.

As he made his way past the creature, though, a voice quickly cried out in his head, _Defend yourself_!

Link quickly turned and raised his Mirror Shield just as a stream of flame and two magical beams lashed out at him. The stream of flame struck his Mirror Shield and was immediately reflected back at its source, as were the two golden magical beams. The hero looked back and found Tetra standing at the sanctum's entrance, the blue crystal of Nayru's Love surrounding her. Her eyes were glowing a bright gold and an evil grin twisted her lips. She then gave an evil chuckle.

"Surprise, hero," she mocked as she began to stride forward.

Link simply scowled as he held his shield forward. He was not surprised at her betrayal. Her treatment of him, along with her personality, had been warning enough that there was something suspicious about her. The only question was why was she attacking him now? She could have easily attacked him as he went to check to see if the floodwaters had receded. And he voiced his question very directly, "Why now Tetra? You could have easily blindsided me as I went to see if the wish worked."

"Two reasons: one, because I wanted to know if the wish was successful. Second, because I needed to know if you would help me with my goals. I don't want to waste good help. It's so hard to find."

"What are your plans?" Link asked. He wanted to keep her talking as he inched his way back towards the Master Sword. While his own arsenal might not have had much that could hurt Tetra while she was protected by Nayru's Love, the Master Sword might have been a weapon that could breach it. And even failing that, it would release the spider-like creature that he hoped was Midna in her transformed state. And one thing he knew was that even with Nayru's Love, the physical impact of an attack could still send an enemy flying. They could shake her into being stunned, or worse. And that was assuming that, if the creature was indeed Midna, that her Twilight Spear would not be able to penetrate the Nayru's Love shield on its own. The Fused Shadows were second only to the Triforce pieces in power. And if he could separate the pieces of the Triforce from Tetra, then he would have a chance to test his theory.

"My plans are to rule Hyrule, of course," Tetra proclaimed.

"And how would you do that?" Link asked.

"By taking out the king, of course. That's why I needed your help to get that tunic so I could get down here. I was thinking about dumping you right after you got me the tunic, but I thought that I might still be able to convince you to join me. Heck, it turned out that it was a good thing that I didn't dump you earlier."

"And what about Link and Zelda?" the hero asked.

"What about them?" Tetra retorted. "They're not the biggest fans of Granddad right now."

"Granddad?" Link asked, his eyes going wide with shock and realization. "So you're not Zelda's sister. You're Link and Zelda's daughter."

The girl nodded. "Ding, ding, ding. Plus one for the idiot. Yep, I'm their kid, not that that matters. They'd still be hindrances to my goals anyway."

"Why lie about your identity? What's the difference between being Zelda's sister and Zelda's daughter?"

"Because you would have been more wary if you knew that I was Link and Zelda's daughter. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or so I've heard some Ordonians say. After all, if you thought I was King Nohansen's daughter, you would have not been suspicious about my intentions to overthrow the king since Granddad let his wife die against a criminal attack, one that was funded by him, when she went voiced her opposition to his plans for Hyrule. I'd have a reason to be mad if my mom was killed. I wouldn't have the same reaction to a grandparent dying."

Link grimaced. That sealed it. Tetra was just like her parents. She was evil, just like her parents and grandfather. Still, he hated the prospect of having to fight a child.

"And now, I'm gonna kill you," Tetra finished, grinning with a slasher smile.

The hero kept his shield out in front of him as he focused on the girl. He did not bother with his sword since he knew that little in his arsenal would affect her as long as she had Nayru's Love up. Still, he remembered that physical impacts could send someone protected by such a shield flying. To that end, he immediately drew his bow and took out a Bomb Arrow. Seeing this, Tetra merely laughed.

"Are you stupid?" she blurted. "That dinky thing won't do a thing to Nayru's Love!"

What she did not realize, though, was that Link did not care about damaging her Nayru's Love shield. He only wanted her to be away from him when he drew the Master Sword. Besides, he had wasted a lot of time talking with her, hopefully meaning that the spell was at the end of its duration. He quickly lit the fuse and pulled back on the arrow's string. Tetra merely pulled out the Ocarina of Time and prepared to blow into it when Link fired his Bomb Arrow.

The Bomb Arrow crossed the distance between the hero and Tetra in less than a second and collided with the Nayru's Love barrier. As the bomb made contact with the barrier, it detonated. The force of the explosion sent Tetra flying through the air several feet. As she was sailing through the air, though, the worst-case scenario happened for her. The Nayru's Love barrier fell and she was now defenseless. She struck the ground headfirst, dropping the ocarina in the process, and skidding along the temple's floor a few feet before coming to a stop, lying still for the time being. Still, there was a trickle of red coming from her head and it was obvious that she had suffered a head injury. Tetra was slow to rise and when she eventually did, she staggered forward before taking a knee and placing both hands on the ground.

Link took this time to run back into the temple's sanctum, rather than finish off the princess, and reach the Master Sword. As he rushed to make his way to the sword, he slung his Mirror Shield over his back; a wise precaution since Tetra had raised her head and fired more beams of magic from her eyes. The magical beams struck the shield and were reflected off of it. The reflected beams swept across the hall, scoring an indirect hit on Tetra, which caused her cry out in pain and stagger backwards a few steps and fall to the ground. Her injuries were not fatal, but she they were painful and she struggled to rise and focus on the hero.

Meanwhile, Link reached the Master Sword and quickly gripped it. As he did so, the blade's glow became bright and the sword emitted a white light that would have blinded anyone else who looked straight at it. The light filled the entire inner sanctum and spread out to the point where it engulfed the entire interior of the temple. Link then pulled the sword and it easily slid out of its pedestal. The moment Link pulled the sword from the pedestal, it was as if the world around them suddenly came alive once more. Link could see the spider-like creature come back to life. It began to move and turn its head back and forth, looking around, as if searching for someone. It quickly turned to face Link and glared at him. He easily recognized the Fused Shadows as they formed a helmet. It had to be Midna. The question now was how Midna had managed to repair them, especially since one of them had been broken and left in the Light World.

As Midna laid eyes on Link, she glared at him and raised her spear above her head, preparing to bring it down on the hero. Link, seeing that the person who he had been searching for was about to kill him, reflexively raised his Mirror Shield, despite the fact that it could suffer damage from taking a physical attack like the spear, and cried, "Wait Midna, it's me, Link!"

"I know, murderer!" the Twilight Queen roared in response as she brought the spear down, forcing Link to dive out of its way. The spear stabbed into the ground, but the queen pulled out as easily as Link had with the Master Sword.

Link looked over at Midna, not knowing why she was attacking him until it registered that she likely thought that he was the Older Link that she had been fighting. Looking near the entrance, his eyes went wide as he saw a blob of dark energy, as well as a ball of light form, the light revealing Older Link and Zelda.

"Midna, watch out!" he cried, jumping in front of Midna, raising his Mirror Shield as the ball of light and blob of dark energy streaked towards her. The shield intercepted the ball of light and immediately reflected it back at its source. The ball struck Zelda and exploded. The blob of dark energy, however, merely bounced off of his shield, revealing that it was nothing more than what he termed as a Dark Arrow. The magic dissipated as the arrow glanced off of the shield. As for the ball of light, its explosion sent Zelda flying from the entrance of the temple's sanctum. She landed several feet away on her back and was slow to rise. Looking back at Midna, he could see that she finally recognized him, or at least knew that he was a friend and not the Link she had been fighting.

"Thanks for the save Link," Midna told him, finally recognizing that he was the Hero of Twilight Link. "I owe you one."

Meanwhile, Older Link was charging straight towards Link and Midna, firing arrows at the two combatants, forcing them to stay on the defensive. Once "Older" Link arrived, he zeroed in on Link and rushed towards the hero. He raised his sword high into the air and attempted to bring it down upon the hero. Link raised his Master Sword to intercept the other Link's blade and a loud clang rang out. The enemy Link proceeded to slash at Link but the hero managed to either parry or evade all of the enemy Link's slashes. Link then thrust his shield forward and knocked his evil counterpart off balance, sending him staggering back towards the entrance. The other Link then drew what looked like a rod with a round red head and he pointed it at Link. A ball of flame was then unleashed towards the hero, prompting Midna to thrust her spear towards the ball of flame to redirect it back to the evil Link. The evil Link was forced to raise a shield in order to protect himself from his reflected attack. Seeing that defeating both Link and Midna would be difficult to accomplish alone, he retreated back into the temple's main hall.

Link and Midna followed and soon, they saw Link join up with Zelda and Tetra. All parties were quick to notice that Tetra was slow to rise, or at least it appeared to everyone to be the case. Suddenly, Tetra vanished from everyone's sight, prompting Zelda to cry, "No don't!"

Tetra then reappeared just behind Link and Midna as she had electrified her body and was about to thrust an electrified dagger into Link's back when the hero moved to the side and avoided the initial strike. Tetra then turned towards him and went to thrust the dagger his way but a quick swipe from the Master Sword right at the dagger knocked it out of Tetra's hand.

The girl glared at Link and seethed, "I'll kill you, Link, and everyone you know and love. No one will be safe from me and my family. You thought Prince Daphnes was bad? I'll make him look like a saint! I'm not patient and I have considerable appetites." The girl then gave a slasher grin at Link, prompting him to grip his sword even more tightly.

"Get back, Tetra," Older Link called in warning.

"No!" the girl cried in retort.

"Don't do this," Older Link warned again. "They are strong. You are too valuable to me to let die."

"Me die?" Tetra scoffed. "The only ones who will die are _them_!"

The young princess then thrust her hand forward and unleashed a massive wave of light energy. Link quickly raised his Mirror Shield and held it forward. The beam struck the Mirror Shield and were reflected back at Tetra, but the outer edges flowed around the shield and would have struck Link if Midna had not raised a shield of her own over him, the Twilight Shield absorbing the light of Tetra's attack. As for the reflected energy, it collided with the rest of Tetra's spell and the girl had to push more energy into her spell in order for it to reach the Mirror Shield and Link. However, eventually, Tetra had used up her magical reserves and the energy was sent flying back towards her. Older Link quickly fired a Dark Arrow to try to blunt the light-based attack and while it did manage to blunt the attack enough to not annihilate Tetra, she still suffered a significant hit from it. The beam of light slammed into her and sent her flying into the air. She sailed at least a dozen feet before hitting the floor on her back. She gave a cry as she hit her back and began to moan in pain.

Older Link looked horrified at the scene and was split between helping his daughter and fighting both Link and Midna. Zelda made the decision for him when she went over to Tetra to try to help her up, leaving her lover Link to deal with Link and Midna. "You'll pay for that," the other Link seethed. "I'll make you suffer for what you did to her."

Link and Midna stood firm and readied themselves for battle. The other Link soon raised his sword and went to perform a spin attack that only produced a small wave of energy. He was obviously expecting more to come from it and glared at the heroes facing him when Zelda called back to him, saying, "Link, stop. We have to leave."

The other Link's eyes went wide with rage. "What?" he blurted. "Did you see what they did to our daughter? Don't you even care?"

"I do!" Zelda cried. She then paused before gripping his arm, "Come on, Link," she insisted. "We've used up all of our energy. We'll never hold out against them. Besides, I'm sensing that a lot of time has passed. We have to get out of here. Hyrule's still beneath the sea and is still in stasis. We have to regroup to consider our next course of action."

"We can't just leave Tetra," the other Link insisted.

"We won't," Zelda assured him. "But we can't do anything for Tetra if we die or use up what remains of our magic fighting the heroes." She pointed at the Twilight Hero Link and Midna. "Don't worry, they _will_ pay for what they have done," she assured him in a dark tone.

It took Link a few seconds to accept, but he eventually saw that Zelda's decision was the right one. They would get their revenge. Link then went over to Zelda and the injured Tetra. He looked down her and saw the girl grimacing in pain, moaning and crying. He looked at Zelda, a tear forming in his eye. She looked at him and nodded, confirming his worse suspicions. Tetra's spell had a residual effect. Soon, the two huddled around the girl. Zelda then raised her hands and a glowing green ball of energy formed above them. The ball of energy grew larger and soon, a pillar of energy was emitted from the ball and formed a pillar around the trio. The trio then vanished, along with the pillar of green energy.

As soon as the pillar had vanished, Link and Midna looked back into the temple's sanctum and noticed Young Link lying on the ground, blood pooled underneath him. Link immediately rushed to check on the younger hero. Before she followed him, though, Midna willed herself back into her normal form. She closed her eyes and the Fused Shadows immediately broke into their component pieces and orbited the Twilight Queen before vanishing. The spider-like Midna immediately transformed back into her humanoid form, the tentacles retracting and forming arms and legs as her head and torso formed from the core of the spider-like creature. Where once a frightening spider-like creature stood, now a lovely young woman of about twenty years or so with fiery red hair that fell to the middle of her back, red eyes, turquoise skin, turquoise markings on her skin, and some black markings. She also wore a black top dress that left one leg bare that had turquoise markings on it. She quickly rushed into the sanctum and joined Link.

When she arrived, she looked down at Young Link and saw the older hero taking the child's pulse. Link moved his fingers on the neck of Young Link, trying to find a pulse but could find none. Midna looked downcast and then used her magic to see if she could sense any sign of life emanating from the boy. She could find none. She looked glum and shook her head as Link looked up at her. "I'm sorry. He's gone and I don't know any revival spells."

Link immediately shot up and began looking around for any crates or pots. "What are you doing?" Midna asked.

"Looking for fairies," Link answered. "Maybe we could use one to revive him."

He searched the entire temple but he could find no pots or any stray fairies to use to potentially revive the boy. Midna looked disheartened as she looked at the boy. "He was brave," she told Link. "He fought harder than anyone in the army and was a true hero. He didn't deserve this."

Link said nothing but nodded in agreement. He then stooped down and picked up the boy so they could give him a proper burial. After lifting him, Link and Midna then proceeded to make their way out of the sanctum and into the temple. There, Midna noticed the Ocarina of Time simply lying on the floor. Before following him, she stooped down and picked it up, strongly suspecting that it would be an important item in the future.

Once she had taken the ocarina, she went over to Link and told him, "We should go. There's nothing more we can do here."

Link nodded. But before he went to leave, he scanned the walls for anything that could be used as a casket for the younger hero, not wanting to leave him in the temple without being buried. Surprisingly, he found a stone that once removed revealed an alcove. In the alcove was an unused tomb. Opening the tomb, he placed the boy inside, closed it, and pushed it back into he alcove, creating a tomb marker for the young hero. Once that was finished, he and Midna went to the temple's entrance and stopped for a second. Link then turned back to the former Twilight Queen.

"You'll want to hide in my shadow," he told the Twili woman. "Hyrule is still flooded and my Zora Armor is the only thing that will allow me to breathe underwater."

Midna nodded and she then disappeared into Link's shadow. Once she was safely inside his shadow, he pushed open the temple doors, allowing water to flood into the temple, and then departed the temple, closing the doors before continuing on his quest.

Meanwhile, the other Link, Zelda, and Tetra reappeared in the main tower of Hyrule Castle. Once, before the flood, it had been a vibrant castle full of activity. Now, it was nothing but a flooded and abandoned structure and the only reason that it had not suffered any damage from the flood was because of the stasis field. Once they entered the castle, Zelda cast a spell on the water inside, pumping it out. A draining sound echoed forth similar to that of a bathtub draining just after the stopper had been pulled. After a minute, the castle was free of water and they could move around and breathe freely.

Once the castle was cleared of water, Link and Zelda promptly went up to the main medical ward, hoping that the castle still had some supplies that could help them save Tetra. When they arrived, they set Tetra down on one of the beds in a private room. She was still writhing and moaning in agony. Fallen Link then scanned the whole ward for any supplies that could be used to treat her while Zelda went over to her to diagnose her condition. Still, it was obvious what her condition was. She was suffering from her own reflected attack, which had a secondary effect of inflicting residual damage upon the target. In essence, she was being poisoned by her own attack.

Moments after Zelda had set Tetra on her bed, the image of King Nohansen appeared next to her, almost causing her to jump. "Father!" she cried.

"I sensed a disturbance in the stasis field a few minutes," the king stated in a regal fashion. "What is the current situation?"

"It is horrible," Fallen Link exclaimed, rushing into the room, having heard King Nohansen speak. "My daughter has been grievously injured. We've taken her to the castle but there is nothing here that can save her. What are we to do?"

"I must speak with Zelda alone," the king answered, ignoring Link's question and taking him aback. "Go and make sure that whatever caused the disturbance in the stasis field does not try to attack the castle, or you. We must work quickly if we are to save Tetra."

"You can count on me, sire." He then looked at both King Nohansen and Zelda sternly and ordered, "Save her. She is the only thing that matters to me!"

The king nodded and then motioned for Fallen Link to leave. He did so and left Princess Zelda alone with her father. Once they were alone, King Nohnasen asked Zelda, "What is the situation?"

"It's bad," Zelda answered. "While we were released from the stasis field, so was the Dark Woman, who appears to be named Midna. She has since joined a new Link, who is a dangerous fighter. Tetra was grievously wounded in the ensuing fight, forcing us to retreat."

Her then father approached her and asked, "How bad is it?" His voice seemed to have a hint of concern in it

"It's bad," Zelda answered. "She was hit by her own light spell that had been reflected by a Mirror Shield. The spell inflicts residual damage upon those who are not immediately killed by it, specifically to ensure their eventual death. She is suffering from its poisonous effect as we speak. I have no medical or magical supplies and my magical reserves are low from fighting Midna. I might be able to help her, but I would have a much greater chance of success if I had more energy, along with your help. Can you help me save my daughter?"

"I cannot," King Nohansen answered, shaking his head. His answer devastated Zelda. "I am in the middle of a pressing battle against the Mushroom Kingdom and cannot be spared from the battle."

"Is there anything that you can do to help her?" Zelda asked. "She's my daughter!"

"Perhaps," the king answered cautiously. "But I would not do it."

"What?" Zelda gasped. "Why?"

"Because Tetra has betrayed us," King Nohansen answered darkly.

"What do you mean?" Zelda asked curiously, not liking what the king was saying.

"Tetra has worked with the recently arrived Link. She was key in helping him fight and later kill your brother, Daphnes."

"Daphnes may have been my brother, but he was perverted scum," Zelda answered harshly. "Someone would have either killed him or imprisoned him sooner or later, quite possibly one of us."

"Perhaps, but still, she is partially responsible for the routing of an assault force that was launched against Zora's Domain. More than a dozen ships were sunk and many squadrons of Kargaroks were lost in the battle. Many nobles died in that battle."

"But…but she's my daughter, and your granddaughter," Zelda pleaded.

"She also wishes to usurp my throne," Nohansen countered. To show that he was telling her the truth, the image of Tetra's initial attack played out in front of Zelda, making sure to emphasize that Tetra intended to kill King Nohansen by any mean necessary, even working with an enemy, but being careful to leave out any references to her not holding anything against her parents. "Now you know the danger she poses to us," King Nohansen told Zelda firmly. "For the good of the kingdom, sacrifices have to be made. Sometimes they have to be great." His expression softened. "Zelda, my dear, this hurts me more than you know," he finished with a gloomy expression. But it soon steeled into a resolute expression. "But those who are able to do what is needed to save a kingdom will be rewarded greatly and the kingdom will prosper."

"I understand," Zelda said, holding back tears.

"Good," King Nohansen said. With that, the king's image vanished, leaving Zelda alone with her daughter.

Zelda went over to her daughter, who had not heard anything from her. Zelda noticed the girl clutching the Triforce of Wisdom, the Triforce of Courage, as well as the Light Force, Daphnes' relic. It probably explained how she had survived taking so many magical attacks in the fight. Zelda went over to her daughter and gently took the relics and placed them on the next bed. This awakened the girl, who looked up at Zelda pleadingly.

"It hurts, Mom," she said in a strained tone, blinking back tears. She then cried out in pain as her spell was taking even more of a toll on her body.

"I know."

"Will I die?" the girl asked.

Zelda looked down at her daughter, tears forming in her eyes. "No," she lied. "Just rest and go back to sleep. When you wake up, it'll all be over."

Tetra gave a strained smile and then went back to sleep. Once she was asleep, Zelda placed her hands on Tetra's heart. She then closed her eyes, tears leaking from them, as she powered up a spell that would hasten the poisonous effects of the spell, rather than reverse them. Soon, lines of light-based energy formed over Tetra's body, burning it and she convulsed. The bed was shaking and Zelda had to keep herself from jumping back, or stopping the spell, in order to complete the spell and follow her father's wishes. Tetra convulsed for over a minute before she was still, and silent. Zelda then placed her hand over Tetra's mouth to see if breath came from it. When she felt no breath coming from the girl's mouth, she placed her fingers on the girl's throat, feeling for her pulse. When she could not feel the throb of blood flowing through the girl's veins she removed her fingers and knelt down, weeping.

Link soon came into the room to check on his daughter and he saw her lying in bed. Zelda rose and turned to him as he entered. "Did she make it?" Link asked. "Were you able to save our daughter?"

Zelda considered what to say for a moment. In the end, all she was able to do was shake her head and look down at the ground, tears flowing from her eyes. That was all the answer Link needed to know that his daughter was dead. He would find them. He would find the other Link and that Dark Woman who fought alongside him. He would find them and kill them. He would then kill all of their friends and anyone else who had ever given them aid and comfort. But that would come later. All he could do now was weep bitterly for his daughter. And both he and Zelda wept bitterly for the death of their daughter.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Link departed the Temple of Time and went to consider his next course of action. The question he had right now was whether or not he should go after the evil Link and Zelda now or go back to the surface and head for Faron to talk to Rauru to ask what their next course of action should be.

As if reading his mind, a shadowy image of Midna appeared in front of Link and answered, "Are you nuts? The evil Link and Zelda are weakened right now. And I also sensed them headed for the castle, which isn't far away. I'm almost certain that there's no one there save for those two and a wounded Tetra, and that's assuming Tetra survives. This is our best chance to take them down and get the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage. With those, King Nohansen will surely come to Hyrule. He won't risk losing two powerful relics like those, especially since he'll need them to ensure that his wishes are not overturned. He comes back, we beat him, take the Triforce of Power, and wish for the restoration of Hyrule, which _will_ be successful since we'll have the complete Triforce at our disposal."

Link considered Midna's plan. It made sense. The evil Link and Zelda were undoubtedly weakened considering the fact that they had just got finished fighting Midna, and it had been at best an even fight. With Tetra in tow, they likely were using more magic to try to heal her, assuming they actually did love her as much as evil Link's rage indicated. And even more, if they were in the castle, then they either had to expend magic in order to pump the floodwaters out of the castle or use even more magic to allow themselves to breathe underwater. He then nodded.

"Yeah, let's go," he said, drawing his sword and gripping it tightly. He then proceeded to make his way out of the temple's courtyard and return to the castle town, and then head to Hyrule Castle to finish off the evil Link and Zelda.

Meanwhile, inside of Hyrule Castle, the other Link and Zelda were sitting near a pallet in the medical ward, Link's eyes still red from crying over the death of his daughter. His sadness was now replaced with hatred. He would do whatever it took to avenge the death of Tetra. He did not care what it took or what he had to do to avenge her, he would. He would make Link suffer for what he had done to his family. He would make all of Link's friends and companions suffer as well. He would make the world know the pain that he currently felt right now and slammed his fist down on the nearby pallet, drawing no reaction from his lover.

Meanwhile, Zelda was keeping a more level head. She had wept for her daughter's death, but had seen its necessity, something she was withholding from Link for the moment. She knew that Tetra wanted her grandfather's throne, and knew that she and Link were obstacles for the throne. The girl would have turned on them, just as she had planned on turning on King Nohansen, just as she had turned on Link. While it was fortunate that they had the Light Force, she was concerned because without anyone else in the Royal Family to wield it at the moment, she was concerned with the potential for infighting over whom would have the right to wield such a power, for whoever had it would have a significant advantage over the others.

She heaved a long, drawn out sigh and made her way over to the ward's window, looking down at the rippling image of Hyrule Castle Town. Looking out through the watery window she saw the frozen defenders of Hyrule engaging the rebel forces, the soldiers frozen in stasis. It was like looking at a painting. Things changed when she noticed Link and Midna approach the castle in the distance. Extending her senses, a further scan indicated that the two were relatively fresh and ready for combat, far more so than she and her Link were at the moment. If it came to a fight, she and her Link would lose. She ducked back into the ward and made her way over to Link, telling him, "Link, we have to hurry and set a barrier over the castle. Link and the Dark Woman are also coming to the castle. They'll be here within minutes."

Link emitted a low grumble of exhilaration and went over to the bed next to Tetra. "Let them come. I could use someone to kill," he said with an evil grin revealing his bloodlust for his lover to see. "I'm especially eager to take vent my rage out on those two," he added, growling and drawing his sword.

Zelda's eyes flashed with shock. "Link, are you crazy? We can't beat them in our current condition!" she blurted. "They're fresh and we just got finished fighting the Dark Woman and the rebel army! We need time to recover and search the castle for healing supplies."

"We can do that once Link and the Dark Woman lie dead and broken beneath my feet!" the once-hero seethed, gripping his sword even more tightly.

"They won't fall to us easily," Zelda warned.

"Why not?" the other Link retorted. "The Twilight Hero Link has no magic to speak of. He's half Human. The Dark Woman is the only threat and we can double-team her."

"The last time that happened, we nearly died!" Zelda argued.

"We have the terrain advantage," the other Link countered. "We know the castle, they don't. We can ambush them."

"With only us?" Zelda challenged. "We have no backup, are drained from our last fight, and at least one of them is fresh and has a lot of tools, including the Master Sword, or did you not notice the blade being wielded by your counterpart."

"I don't care, we'll still kill them."

"We might not," Zelda retorted. "At least not yet. We need to rest and recover from our last battle. Then we can face Link and Zelda when we are fresh and have the advantage," she counseled.

"We have the Light Force," Link stated plainly.

"For all the good it did Tetra or Daphnes, it seems," Zelda answered almost wistfully.

Link gritted his teeth at the mention of Tetra. In his brain, he knew that Zelda was right, but he could not let go of his need for revenge. He wanted to kill Link and Midna so much it hurt. He wanted to kill them as quickly as possible, or rather, fight them and beat them as quickly as possible, but their deaths would not be fast. No, their deaths would be slow, and horrifying. He would do things to them that would have disgusted even Daphnes and the most deranged killers and sadists the world had ever known. Still, in the end, he saw the wisdom in his lover's words. After all, she had been the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom. He could not get his revenge if he was killed in battle, which he may very well have been if he decided to fight Link and Midna in his current condition.

"You're right," he eventually told Zelda, sheathing his blade and slumping over. "What do you need me to do?"

Zelda merely motioned for the two Triforce pieces and the Light Force. He then went over to them picked up the two Triforce pieces and the Light Force and gave them to Zelda. Zelda kept hold of the Triforce of Wisdom and the Light Force while Link took hold of the Triforce of Courage. Once they did so, they both closed their eyes and focused their powers. After a few seconds had passed, they opened their eyes and they were now glowing a bright gold. Golden lightning was crackling from their eyes and they raised their hands above their heads. Immediately, two golden gloves of energy formed in their hands. As a low chiming sound was beginning to rise in pitch. Soon, a golden ball of energy formed in front of them and rose a few feet above them. With a single push, they then sent the ball flying into the air, and out of the castle.

Outside the castle, the golden ball of light appeared high above the central tower's spire, protected from the stasis field by Link and Zelda's wills. The ball of light rose into the air several meters and eventually came to a stop, hovering over the castle. After stopping, a sheet of golden energy was emitted by the ball and it soon formed a dome above the castle. The walls of the energy sheet came down to the ground just outside the castle's grounds, separating the castle from the rest of the outside world, forming a golden barrier around the castle. Bubbles issued forth from the impact points of the sheet of energy, indicating that the barrier extended beneath the ground as well. The castle was now sealed off from any outsiders.

Meanwhile, back in Hyrule Castle Town, the Hero of Twilight Link and Midna were heading towards the castle. While they were making their way through the town, they saw several energy balls emerging from castle's tower and rise above it. Despite not having any magic of his own, Link could tell what was about to happen. However, he also knew that he was too far away to do anything about it, either. He could only watch as golden sheets of energy formed from the balls and flowed down the sides of the castle. The sheets of golden energy fell off the sides of the castle and several more were spreading out as the barrier expanded to encompass the entirety of the castle grounds. Once it reached the gate, the barrier stopped expanding and came to rest.

As Link entered the town square he stopped and searched for the outskirts of the barrier. He found them near the castle town's northern gate. Approaching the gate, he took out a Water Bomb and prepared to toss it at the barrier. He could sense Midna's incredulousness.

"Are you crazy? That thing won't hurt the barrier."

"Perhaps," Link admitted. "But it may give you an idea on the barrier's strength and help us determine if the barrier can be breached or not."

Midna had to admit that the hero had a point. As such, she waited for him to toss his Water Bomb at the barrier and ascertain how much strain was put on the barrier from its explosion, assuming it exploded and was not sent rocketing back towards the hero. Link lit the fuse on his Water Bomb and then tossed it at the golden barrier. The bomb struck the barrier and detonated, either fortunately or unfortunately depending on how one looked at it, for while it did no damage to the barrier whatsoever, at least it had not been reflected back at Link and exploded, injuring or killing him in the process.

After the detonation, he mentally looked over at Midna, whose image had appeared next to him. "So?"

"It's not good," she answered. "I sensed next to no strain to the barrier."

The hero looked downcast. Midna, however, was not ready to give up just yet. "Still, that does not mean it's impenetrable. We just need a stronger weapon."

"Can you collapse the barrier?" Link asked.

"I'll give it my best shot," the former Twilight Queen answered.

She then approached the barrier and closed her eyes and held her breath, focusing her power. Once she arrived at the barrier, the Fused Shadows appeared from the Twilight and orbited her body. They then set themselves in a triangle formation and each converged upon her, enclosing her head and torso in them. Almost instantly, the former Twilight Queen was transformed into a six-legged spider-like beast with a single energy spear. She stepped forward and drew the spear back. She then thrust it into the barrier with all her strength. The spear struck the barrier and a ripple in the barrier spread out from the point of impact as if the spear had been thrust into a liquid. Bubbles issued from the point of impact and a loud ringing sound echoed throughout the entire town and Link had to cover his ears, despite the Zora Armor, it was so loud. Still, despite the power of the thrust, the barrier looked to be undamaged. That did not stop Midna, though, as she pulled back the spear and thrust it into the barrier again.

Back inside the castle, Link and Zelda slumped to their knees and rested for a few moments, exhausted from erecting the barrier over the castle. After a while, they slowly rose. "That should hold them," Link stated confidently, still breathing heavily.

"Let's hope so," Zelda answered in an uncertain tone. "We'll need time to replenish ourselves after this."

"First thing we have to do is get supplies," Link said, deciding to take charge of the situation.

"That won't be a problem," Zelda answered.

"What do you mean?" Link asked. "Wouldn't our supplies from the storage area be useless with the passage of time?"

"All of Hyrule is in stasis," Zelda answered. "Including our supplies. The stasis field is still in place so the items here have not aged one bit. We can hole up here for a long time if need be."

"We only need to remain here until we bring in our loyal soldiers to defend the castle," Link stated.

"Or until father arrives with the army," Zelda added. "Anyway, the barrier should last as long as we can get the Sages' barriers to feed it energy."

"Will that be difficult?" Link asked.

"No," Zelda answered. "I've already managed to find them using the power of the Triforce of Wisdom. I'm already diverting their power to fuel our barrier as we speak. It will also only be permeable by someone who has a piece of the Triforce. That means that only you, me, and Dad will be able to get through, along with anyone we allow to come through of our own will. Not that anyone will with Hyrule being flooded and still in stasis."

"What about the other Link and the Dark Woman?" Link asked. "The Dark Woman had a great deal of power. Could they breach the barrier?"

"This should hold against them," Zelda answered a little less confidently than Link had wanted.

"Let's hope so," Link replied, echoing Zelda's sentiments. "Otherwise, we're gonna be in for a tough battle. Even though I want my revenge, you were right earlier and I can see that now. A fight now would only end badly for us."

"Then we should rest, recover our strength," Zelda stated, "and expect the worst, yet hope for the best."

Link nodded and the two then made their way out of the ward and went to the main tower, to the Royal Suite so they could rest before what could be a fast approaching battle. After they arrived in the royal suite, the loud ring of the collision between Midna's Twilight Spear and the energy barrier echoed throughout the entire castle. The noise was loud enough that both the evil Link and Zelda had to cover their ears or risk hearing damage. "What was that?" Link cried over the din.

"Damn," Zelda swore as she continued to keep her ears covered and search for the nearest window. "Someone powerful is trying to breach the barrier."

"Who?" Link cried out in question.

Zelda went over to the window and soon, another clang rang out throughout the castle. The noise was so loud that Zelda was forced to cover her ears again. She cursed again as she eventually reached the window. Looking out over the town, she saw Midna in her spider-like form smashing the barrier with her spear, the soldiers in the town square, along with Link, covering their ears as she wailed on the barrier. She thrust her spear into the barrier a third time, prompting Zelda to cover her ears, energy ripples spread out from the point of impact. Despite the ripples, though, there did not seem to be any visible damage done to the barrier. Zelda, however, knew otherwise. While Midna was not strong enough to breach the barrier since it was being powered not only by the Triforce pieces and the Light Force, but also by the Sage barriers, she knew that enough hits would eventually bring down the barrier. And if any of the Sage barriers were taken down, it would take fewer hits to breach the barrier.

"Link, get up, we've gotta move."

"What's wrong?" the once-hero asked. "I thought we were safe in here?"

"We are for now," Zelda answered. "However, I wouldn't bet on us being safe if we lost more than a couple of the Sage barriers."

"Can they destroy them?" Link asked incredulously. "Those barriers are made of energy from the energy of the Triforce."

"But they're not as strong as _this_ barrier, which has taken damage from that spider creature's spear thrusts. We need to let the Dark Sages know that they're likely going to be targeted by the heroes and possibly even by the rebel forces, too."

"Do they even know about the Dark Sages?" Link asked skeptically. He knew that the Hero of Twilight Link was a newcomer to this Hyrule and Midna was not all that familiar with it, either since she had been a latecomer to the war and had been trapped in stasis with them.

"We can't take that chance," Zelda insisted. "Besides, you don't think that Rauru will fill them in? There's no way they're not going to know the secrets of our power. We have to let the Sages know what's coming so they can mount a defense."

"But how are we gonna get out of here without being detected while still maintaining the barrier?"

Zelda suppressed a groan. She cupped her hands and a green ball of energy formed in them. She then raised the ball of energy above her head and it soon grew larger, to the size of a small boulder. There it hovered above them. "By using Farore's Wind," she answered.

Link nodded and Zelda then went over to him and took his hand. Then as one, they teleported out of the castle and to the Shadow Temple. They suspected that if Link and Midna ever learned of the Dark Sages and their barrier, that they would go for the closest of them first, which would be the Shadow Temple in Kakariko Village.

Meanwhile, outside the castle, after her third thrust against the barrier, Midna backed away a few steps and transformed back into her human-like form. The Fused Shadows orbited her body and vanished from sight and she went to one knee, breathing heavily. She looked up at the barrier, took a deep breath and let out a deep sigh.

After a while, Link looked at the barrier, which was shimmering as if it had been damaged and was trying to heal, and asked, "Were you able to damage the barrier?"

"Not enough," the former Twilight Queen answered. "I inflicted some damage to it, but there's no way I would be able to pierce it at this level. Right now, it's powered by the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage, the Light Force, and I also sensed some other energies come in to reinforce it just before my last strike."

"What energies?"

"I don't know," Midna answered, shaking her head. "But they were dark and strong."

After a minute of silence, Link looked over at and saw her fatigue as she struggled to hold her breath. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Midna answered, eventually catching her breath. "Just a little tired. Those spear thrusts took a lot out of me since I poured a lot of my magic into it."

"Come into my shadow and rest."

Midna nodded and the Fused Shadows instantly split apart and disappeared into twilight as Midna retreated into Link's shadow so she could catch her breath.

"So, any idea what we do next?" Link asked.

The image of former Twilight Queen appeared next to him and focused her gaze on the barrier, answering, "Not unless you know where the sewer system is, assuming it, too, isn't blocked, which it likely is."

Link looked downcast. He did not know the layout of the castle so he did not know of any backdoors, not that they would have likely been left unguarded by the barrier. Soon, though, a thought came to him. "There may be someone we can talk to," he told her.

"Who?"

"Rauru, the Sage of Light," the hero answered.

Midna's eyes went wide with shock. "He's still alive?"

Link nodded. "I talked with him just before I infiltrated the Castle Island and fought Prince Daphnes. Assuming nothing bad has happened in Faron Province since I left, we should be able to talk to him and see if there's any way to breach that barrier."

"Then we should get going now," Midna told him. "I have a feeling that our window of opportunity will not be unlimited. I'd rather get this done with before Link and Zelda can summon troops to reinforce the castle's defenses."

Link nodded and proceeded to make his way back to the Temple of Time so that he would have an idea of where his ship would be located so that he would not have to swim far once he emerged from the stasis field. He swam back to the temple, swimming over a series of flooded trees in order to reach the temple much faster. He then began his ascent out of the stasis field and back up to his ship.

As he was swimming, he drew his Double Clawshot in order to deal with any Skullfish that came to meet him once he emerged from the stasis field. Sure enough, the moment he emerged from the stasis field and felt time return to normal, he came across a school of Skullfish who managed to catch sight of him. Seeing him as prey, they immediately turned towards him and began to swim his way. Wasting no time, he took aim with his Double Clawshot and fired two chains at the lead skeletal fish. The chains struck the two lead fish and shattered them. The chains then retracted and he fired again at two more fish, destroying them with single hits. After a couple more volleys, the school of Skullfish was destroyed and the way to the ship was clear.

Link surfaced and scanned the ocean for his ship. He saw it only a hundred yards away to his left. Turning left, he immediately swam to the ship. Once he arrived, he went to the port side of the ship and saw a series of rungs for him to grip, designed to allow him to get back on the ship if he went overboard or if he had needed to swim underwater. He gripped the rungs and pulled himself up onto the ship.

Once he boarded the ship, Midna emerged from Link's shadow and looked over the ship.

"Not bad," she noted, judging the ship as she examined its defenses.

"I bought this ship used, using Tetra's money, and had the ship upgraded to deal with an assortment of enemies," Link explained. "It originally came with only a single large cannon that could fire a variety of payloads."

"And this is what we'll be using to cross the sea for the next part of this quest, right?"

Link nodded.

Once she had a chance to relax for a bit, she took out the Ocarina of Time and examined it. She could sense the magical energy emanating from the instrument but did not know how to utilize it. She suspected that playing certain songs on it would have different effects but without knowing what the songs were or how to play them, the ocarina was of little use to her, in and of itself. She looked over at Link and remembered that when he had summoned the Hero's Shade that he had howled some songs. Perhaps he could use the ocarina. He had also been with Princess Tetra so he may have heard, or even learned, some songs from her as well. Still, she did not worry too much about the ocarina at the moment and merely put it away, following Link towards the command cabin.

As Link neared the command cabin, there was a bright flash of light coming from behind them. The two then turned and quickly saw that they were standing face to face with the very man they had intended on meeting in another province of the kingdom: Rauru. Their eyes went wide as they saw the Sage of Light standing before them. "Is everything okay?" the Sage asked. "You look surprised to see me."

"We are, Rauru" Link answered. "I was expecting you to stay with the Great Deku Tree."

"Things have changed in the last few days and it seems as if you wanted to contact me," Rauru stated knowingly, giving Link a gentle smile. "I just wanted to save you the trouble."

Link nodded. Rauru looked behind Link as he saw Midna step out from behind him to join them. "You found the Dark Woman, it seems," Rauru continued.

"Hello Sage of Light," Midna said, stepping forward. "My name is Midna."

"And I am Rauru," the Sage answered, bowing to the Twilight Queen. "I must thank you for your service to us a decade ago. Without your help, Hyrule would be in even worse peril than it already is."

"What is the current situation in Hyrule right now?" the former Twilight Queen asked.

"I'll tell you once we're safely inside the ship's command cabin and away from the eyes and ears of the Royal Family," the Sage answered.

"But there aren't any enemy ships around here," Link contested. "We're in the middle of the ocean. The only enemies close by are Link and Zelda inside the castle beneath the sea. He turned to Midna and asked, "Can you sense anyone close by?"

Midna shook her head. "No one besides Link and Zelda, who seem to be busy at the moment."

"The servants of King Nohansen and his family are not always out in the open or are easy to spot," Rauru explained. "In addition, there is more than one kind of servant. I would like to be out of sight, away from the prying eyes of the Royal Family. The evil Link and Zelda will almost certainly be contacting their Dark Sages in order to reinforce the barrier over their castle. They will likely be sending spies here to try to track us. We should go inside. As a Sage, I can still use my power to block any magical scans and ward off any birds or sea creatures that may try to listen in on our conversation."

Link and Midna then glanced at each other and nodded. They then followed the Sage back into the ship's cabin. Just before entering, the duo looked into the sky noticed that there were a large number of birds that were flying above them, seemingly swarming towards the castle town. Link then quickly ducked into the cabin, followed closely by Midna and Rauru. Once they were inside, they closed the door, though they kept it ajar for a couple of seconds to see if there was anything suspicious going on with the birds. Listening to see what was happening outside, Link and Midna quickly realized that the birds were not singing at all, which caused them to feel uneasy. Instead, they were deathly quiet. The duo quickly realized what Rauru meant when he said that there were other servants of the Royal Family. They then closed the door so that they would not risk being heard.

When the cabin door was closed, Rauru looked over the cabin and said appraisingly, "Good. Now we can discuss our plans without being watched or heard."

"So what is the current situation in Hyrule?" Midna asked.

"I'd also like to know," Link said, echoing Midna's sentiments. Thinking about some things that had happened recently, though, he had a feeling that Hyrule's military forces had suffered a significant blow with the failed attack on Zora's Domain. Even though the fleet losses had not been that extensive, they had still suffered significant losses and the Count Frederick was sure to hurt morale among the Hyrulean Navy.

Rauru faced Link and began his report, saying, "Your initial suppositions are correct, Link. Hyrule has suffered a significant blow in the loss of its fleet attacking Zora's Domain. However, things are not all that good."

"Why is that?" Link asked.

"Because there is another fleet attacking Ordona Province. This fleet numbers around one hundred ships of the line, each with at least two support ships ranging from supply ships to patrol boats to even small frigates. In addition, there are a number of troopships in the fleet. The craft carried on these ships, walkers and other support vehicles will support a massive assault against Ordona Province once they land. And also, King Nohansen now has a good reason to return to Hyrule since Link and Zelda have been released from stasis and Tetra is now dead," Rauru answered. He noted that Link and Midna were not surprised to hear about Tetra's fate.

"Will he?" Midna inquired.

"I don't know," Rauru answered. "Right now, King Nohansen has the Triforce of Power firmly in his control. However, he does not trust his daughter or her lover, Link." The hero almost cringed at the use of his name in reference to a servant of evil. "Anyway, he is looking for another source of power, one that can possibly rival even the completed Triforce: the Star Rod."

"Where is the Star Rod?" Link asked.

"In the Mushroom Kingdom," the Sage answered. "However, the Mushroom Kingdom is currently in peril at the moment. The kingdom is being invaded by the Koopa Kingdom led by King Bowser the Great. Bowser the Great is a powerful sorcerer in his own right. He, too, may have aspirations for the Star Rod."

"Would that not be a good thing?" Midna asked. "Let King Nohansen and Bowser the Great duke it out and we mop up what's left."

"It would be if the winner would not get either the Star Rod or the Triforce of Power at the very least added to his arsenal," Rauru replied. "We can't let either of them get the Star Rod. It would be just as bad as letting King Nohansen have the completed Triforce at his disposal."

"One thing," Link interrupted. "What's to stop King Nohansen from simply taking the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage from evil Link and Zelda and combining them to grant him another wish?"

"Sadly, very little," Rauru answered, looking downcast. "And he should also have the power to simply teleport back to Hyrule Castle and take the Triforce pieces from Link and Zelda should he wish to. He's more than strong enough to defeat them if it came down to a fight, which is why we all need to hurry."

"Is there any way to stop him if he does, indeed, decide to go that route?" Link asked. Prince Daphnes had been a difficult enough opponent with just the Light Force, though he had not had the Master Sword for that fight. The prospect of facing King Nohansen with the complete Triforce, along with possibly an item that can rival it in power in the Star Rod would be even worse.

"The Master Sword that you hold should be able to pierce his defenses," Rauru answered. "It was crafted to repel even the powers of the Triforce, something that you have already seen in your travels. It will also be of great use against Link and Zelda, too."

Midna was standing back, listening to the conversation. She, too, had concerns about facing King Nohansen, but she thought that they were getting ahead of themselves. "I hate to interrupt you, but all of this talk about fighting King Nohansen is a little premature. We still have to get into Hyrule Castle. And currently, the castle is being protected by a magical barrier that even the Fused Shadows can't break. We'll have to deal with that first. Then we can worry about facing down the enemies inside."

"The Twilight Queen is right," Rauru admitted. "We do have a problem getting inside the castle. However, I may know of a solution." He then paused for a second before continuing. "I was able to get a scan of the barrier when I arrived on your ship. Its initial activation was powered by the Triforce of Wisdom, the Triforce of Courage, and the Light Force. However, its power is currently being sustained by additional input coming from various parts of Hyrule, or in some cases, areas that were once a part of Hyrule."

"Do you know where these power sources are?" Midna asked.

Rauru nodded tentatively. "I know of the general vicinity of the places the power is being fed from," he answered. "I can't be precise, but I am almost certain that they are coming from various temples that used to represent one of the Sages of Hyrule. I can sense five power arcs converging on Hyrule Castle. We can rule out the Temple of Light since it is in the Sacred Realm. We can also rule out both Temples of Time. This Temple of Time is a gateway to the Sacred Realm and the Temple of Light, itself. I also do not sense any strange energies emanating from the Temple of Time, or rather its ruins, in Faron Province. In addition, that temple is one of the few areas still under Sage control. That means that the temples that are likely supplying this barrier with energy are the Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, and Spirit Temples. The Forest Temple is located in the Lost Woods in Faron Province, on the opposite side of the woods from the Temple of Time. The Fire Temple is located deep inside of Death Mountain. The Water Temple is located underneath Lake Hylia." Turning to Link, he added, "You have already visited that temple in the past, but it has since been remodeled. The Shadow Temple is located above the graveyard in Kakariko Village, and the Spirit Temple is located on the far side of Gerudo Desert. It is also called the Arbiter's Grounds."

"We've been there before," Midna told the Sage.

"Perhaps, but things have changed since you last visited," Rauru stated. "Each of the temples has been taken over by the armies of Hyrule. When all of the Sages save for myself were killed a decade ago, King Nohansen replaced them with 'Dark Sages'. These Dark Sages were specially chosen magicians of incredible power that were also very loyal to the Royal Family. Many say that they are, indeed, Sheikah warriors and magicians, if not actual relatives of King Nohansen, though their connection is distant so they cannot lay claim to the Throne of Hyrule."

"Is Zelda a Sage?" Link asked.

Rauru nodded. "She is the Sage of Time, the leader of the Sages, or now, the Dark Sages."

"Then why doesn't she have control of the Temple of Time?" Link asked.

"Because the Temple of Time that she would use as her power base is located in Faron Province and it is currently in ruins. The Temple of Time below us is merely a gateway between the Light World and the Sacred Realm." Rauru then took a breath and continued, "Well, back to the plan. In order to weaken the barrier over Hyrule Castle so that it can be taken down, we'll need to cut off the power being fed to it from the numerous generators, or barriers, in the temples. In order to do that, you'll need the power of the Light Arrows."

"I remember the Great Deku Tree mentioning them before. He said that they were in Ordona Province. Are they still there?"

Rauru shook his head. "No, they are not."

"Where are they now?"

"The Gerudo Desert," Rauru answered.

"How did they end up there?" Link asked.

"The Gerudos stole them when Zelda, the cousin of the current Princess Zelda, was captured by King Nohansen and being sent to the Arbiter's Grounds to be sentenced to the Twilight Realm," came the Sage's answer. "The Gerudos could not use them since they were not pure of heart and they recognized the danger that they posed. They also could not destroy them, so they hid them in the desert in the hopes that no one would be able to find them and use them against them."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Link asked, realizing that his quest to Ordona Province to gain weaponry to kill Prince Daphnes would have been useless.

"Because I did not find that out until recently. There have been rumors that there is a great evil destroying power in Ordona Province. That is one of the real reasons why the Hyrulean military is so desperate to conquer the province. They want to destroy the power."

"Well, what about the Light Spirits?" Link inquired. "Couldn't we get them to make more Light Arrows? Queen Zelda using them in our battle against Ganondorf," Link added, remembering his battle with Ganondorf at the end of the Invasion of Twilight. "They were granted to her by the Light Spirits. Maybe they could give us some more."

Rauru shook his head and then looked down at the floor glumly. Link had a feeling that getting the Light Arrows would not be as simple as going to a Light Spirit and asking for them. Link's concern began to grow. "Has something happened to the Light Spirits?" he asked.

Rauru shook his head, bringing a sense of relief to the hero. "The Light Spirits are safe, for now. They're probably the only ones next to the gods that are still safe in Hyrule. But that will only be the case if Link and Zelda don't go after them."

"Then why are you looking so down?" Midna asked. "What has happened to the Light Arrows? And why can't the Light Spirits make more?"

"Because the Light Arrows were not created by the Light Spirits," Rauru answered. "They were simply found by, or placed in the care of, the Light Spirits ages ago. They are powerful weapons that like your Master Sword," the Sage turned to face Link, "evil ones may never touch. However, that did not stop them from being stolen and lost in the Cave of Ordeals in the Gerudo Desert."

"The original Cave of Ordeals or is there another one?" the hero asked.

Rauru nodded. "They are believed to be located in the old Cave of Ordeals. I take it you know of it."

Both Link and Midna nodded.

"It is overseen by one of the Great Fairies," Rauru continued. "Be careful. It is called the Cave of Ordeals because it houses a gauntlet of the strongest of enemies. It will be incredibly difficult for you to get through if you are not properly equipped."

"I know," Link said, nodding. He then checked his equipment. He found that he could use some more arrows and bombs. With Hyrule Castle Town still being flooded, and Kakariko Island likely being the next rally point for the Hyrulean nobility with the receding of the floodwaters and the reappearance of the evil Link and Zelda, he decided that it would be best to hope that some items were found either in the Cave of Ordeals, itself, or scattered on the ground in Hyrule Field. His thoughts were soon interrupted by Midna asking, "What makes you think they're still in the Cave of Ordeals? The Cave is like a magnet for treasure hunters."

"It is a good place to hide them from someone who wishes to destroy them or try to use them for evil, which will have the same result," Rauru answered. "Besides, there are other treasures in the cave waiting to be claimed."

"But the Cave of Ordeals is specifically designed to be a challenge," Midna countered. "It would bring all treasure hunters and fortune seekers into the cave."

"It would if the cave's entrance was not deep inside Gerudo Desert that was underneath the ocean," Rauru answered. "Besides, few people know of the Light Arrows. Even the Gerudos simply think of them as being nothing more than a form of magic arrow for the Royal Family to wield."

"Why did the other Zelda have them?" Link asked.

"Because she was pure of heart," Rauru answered. "She was granted the Light Arrows by the Light Spirits because they felt that she would need them for use against King Nohansen if her negotiations went nowhere. Sadly, she was unable to defeat her uncle and she was captured."

"Are you _sure_ they're in the Cave of Ordeals?" Link asked.

"Nothing is absolutely certain," Rauru answered. "But it's the only logical place since I can only sense a strong magical echo coming from there."

Link nodded. Midna also did not question him further. "Be careful in your travels," Rauru warned. "If Link and Zelda have been able to make contact with the army of Hyrule, they will know about you and _you_ will be their primary focus. Some provinces and islands will welcome you, while others will be more divided. Be careful entering places like Kakariko Island or even the islands in the Desert Province. There will be bounty hunters and mercenaries on your tail as well. There will be a large reward for your capture and/or death. It will be too much for many of the less scrupulous soldiers to pass up."

Link and Midna both nodded.

"I will go and make contact with Impa and Nabooru. They can help me guide the rebels and protect Faron Province and Ordona Province as best we can," the Sage added. "However, that means that they will be occupied a long ways from you, meaning that you will likely be on your own for much of this adventure."

The duo nodded in understanding again. This had been the way it was for Link much of the time. He then turned to Rauru and thanked him for all his help. Before leaving, though, Rauru told the two one more thing. "Link, Midna, in addition to weakening the barrier around Hyrule Castle, the destruction of the generators inside the temples will serve another purpose. It will allow for a new Sage to awaken. When a Sage dies, his or her power passes to another person worthy of the power. Oftentimes, it is passed down through families, or through connections to a certain family or spirit. The dark and evil energies surrounding the generators and barriers inside the temples, is drowning out the energies of the Sages, the powers having been taken by the Dark Sages and used for evil. The Light Arrows will not just take down the Dark Sages' barriers; they will also purify the powers of the Sages and allow them to pass to new recipients and allow new Sages to awaken. Having new Sages on our side will, of course, help in overcoming the defenses of Hyrule Castle and allow us to have a fighting chance against the Royal Family."

Link and Midna nodded and Midna began to smile. Suddenly, things were looking a lot more hopeful. It would be relatively easy to formulate their course of action. Once he was finished, Rauru wished them luck on their journey and then turned around and departed the cabin and vanished from the scene.

Back inside the cabin, Link went over to the command console so that they could get underway when Midna ran over to him and said, "Wait."

"Is something wrong?" he asked the Twili.

"No," Midna responded, shaking her head. "We just need to discuss our next course of action without being overheard."

"What more needs to be discussed?" Link asked. "We already know what we must do."

"And how do you intend for us to get to the Cave of Ordeals in a timely fashion?" the Twili woman asked almost smugly, crossing her arms. "It is in a desert a long ways away from the castle buried beneath an ocean. It'll be next to impossible to find through conventional means. Fortunately, I have a plan."

"What's your plan?"

"I can sense magical powers. I'll simply extend my magical senses under the sea and scan for the arrows that way. The Light Arrows are a strong magical power so I'll just lock onto the strongest source of magic. It should be the Light Arrows."

The plan sounded simply enough and it seemed to have a good chance of success. With that, Link went over to the command console and sat in his seat. Then, turning the key in the ignition, started the ship. Once the engine came to life, he set the throttle to full, pointing the ship towards the Gerudo Desert.

Meanwhile, in the skies above Hyrule, Kargaroks flew patrols in their designated areas. Hylian soldiers were riding the birds. Alongside the birds were crows. The crows were very useful as spies, for they spoke in a language that could only be understood by only a very few in Hyrule, Princess Zelda among them; obviously a gift granted by the Triforce of Wisdom. Their attention was focused on a couple of rebel frigates that were attacking a Hyrulean man-of-war. They saw a volley of cannon fire strike the man-of-war and inflict significant damage. An explosion was seen onboard the ship and fire spewed out from a hole, causing the soldiers to grimace and the rebels on their frigates to give a cheer. However, the man-of-war was far from beaten. It soon turned and presented its broadside guns to the frigates, causing the soldiers in the sky to grin. The return volley from the man-of-war proved to be fatal. The withering fire unleashed by the man-of-war shattered the two frigates in a single barrage, leaving nothing but burning wrecks to sink into the sea. The Kargarok riders laughed as they saw rebel sailors hurling themselves into the sea as their ships were annihilated. Once the fight was over, they left the scene, allowing the rebel sailors to drown in the ocean. With the skirmish having ended, the pilots got back to their patrols.

As they were continuing their patrols, they noticed a strange paddle steamer headed, towards the Gerudo Desert. A closer look revealed that the ship did not seem to have much of a crew, if any. Instead, it seemed as if whatever crew it had was either in the command cabin at the rear of the ship or was below deck. For a moment, they considered what to do. They were not equipped to deal with a ship but they could easily report it to the Hyrulean nobles. One of the soldiers soon got out a pair of binoculars and looked down at the ship to see if it had any rebel markings. He found none, the markings indicating that it was merely a merchant vessel. The carronades on the main deck caused him to question that for an instant, but he knew the dangers posed by pirates. Carronades could help deal with pirates, or rebels, attempting to board vessels. Besides, he had a patrol to get back to. However, he also had a duty to report any strange activity. They had also been tasked to report on the whereabouts of all of the rebel ships. Still, this was only one ship and it did not have any rebel markings or flags. In the end, they decided that one lone ship with a small crew was not worth further investigation, so they decided to continue with their normal patrol, though they would be certain to mention the appearance of the small ship headed towards the Gerudo Desert in their report to the Hyrulean nobility, and Link and Zelda.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

Link guided the ship out over the open sea as he carefully studied the map while Midna focused on finding the sensation of the Light Arrows. He knew that his next destination after gaining the Light Arrows would likely be either the Arbiter's Grounds or the Water Temple beneath the location where Lake Hylia used to be. He thought back to his previous visit to the cave and hoped that it would not be as difficult this time around. Still, he feared that it would be considering that it held such a valuable treasure, despite it being buried beneath the ocean and possibly beneath the stasis field.

After a few hours of crossing the sea, they came to a stop so they could scan the area more thoroughly, for the buoys were already indicating that they were in the Desert Province. As they did so, Midna stepped out and scanned the skies, noticing that save for a few normal sized birds, there were no sign of potential spies for the Hyrulean military. Still, that did not cause her to lower her guard at all, for she knew that Hyrule had used ordinary birds as spies before. She then focused her scans on the ocean to see if there were any other ships in their vicinity for during the trip, they had encountered a small number of patrol boats belonging to the Hyrulean navy that had attempted to accost them but they managed to evade the enemy ships with little effort and the vessels did not give any pursuit.

A duo of frigates that were coming up towards them, however, were not going to let them go so easily. The only good thing about the frigates was that they seemed to be made of wood, which meant that if it came down to a fight, that their ship actually had a chance if they used rockets against them. Midna went back into the main cabin so as to help Link evade the frigates, but despite all attempts at evading them or making their ship not look suspicious or even a danger, the frigates still came up to them, a voice booming from a speaker warning, "This is the Hyrulean Navy. Power the throttle of your ship down to zero, retract your cannons, and prepare to be boarded so as to have your ship be absorbed into the navy."

Seeing few options since they knew that their small ship could not outrun a frigate, they loaded the main cannon and opened fire on the frigates as soon as the larger wooden ships had fired on them. The cannonballs fired from the frigates overshot the small ship, creating splashes of water a dozen yards behind the ship. The return fire from Link's ship, however, did manage to hit its mark. Two missiles erupted from the main cannon, one after the other. They each struck their target ships in their waterlines, blowing massive holes in the ship. The damage was more than sufficient to sink the two antiquated vessels. With the ships having been dealt with, the duo continued on their journey.

Along the way, Link and Midna both kept a constant watch for any enemy ships. They strongly suspected that the sinking of the two frigates would not go unnoticed for long. They wanted to have found the Light Arrows and departed the Desert Province long before anyone came to investigate.

After a while, Midna began to sense that they were getting close to their destination. "Slow down Link, we're close," she alerted.

Link did as directed and slowed the throttle to one half power. He then waited for any further instructions from his companion. She was silent so he suspected that he was on the right track. After a while, he heard Midna tell him, "Turn left twenty degrees and slow to one quarter throttle."

He did so and he looked over at her and asked, "Are we close?"

Midna nodded. "The power I'm sensing is incredible. If anything, the magic down there is stronger than I would expect a Light Arrow to be, given my brief exposure to them during our last adventure."

Her answer gave Link little comfort. He wanted to find the Light Arrows and leave as quickly as possible, not be stuck searching all of the Great Sea for an eternity while the evil Link and Zelda were able to shore up their power base and King Nohansen returned to present a united front against them.

After a few more minutes, Midna proclaimed, "We're here."

Link immediately stopped the ship and glanced over to her. "There's no doubt about it," she told him. "The magic I'm sensing is right here."

Link nodded and let a smile creep through. He knew what had to be done next. He went over to the anchor's control systems and dropped the anchor. He then went to get his magic sack and took out his Zora Armor. Putting it on, he then went to check his inventory. His main concern was having enough Water Bombs for the quest. He did not know whether the dungeon portion of the Cave of Ordeals was flooded, but if it was then he wanted to be ready. His bomb bag was not filled to capacity so he went over to the munitions storage to see if it had any extra Water Bombs for him. Thankfully, the bomb shop salesman had thought to give some extra Water Bombs for ammunition for the cannons. He took out the necessary Water Bombs needed to fill his bomb bag and when he was ready, he went to depart the cabin. Midna quickly merged with his shadow and the hero then went over to the side and jumped into the water.

As Link descended into the water and headed towards the sea floor, he took out his Double Clawshots in case he came up against any Skullfish or any other underwater enemies. However, much to his surprise, the area seemed to be devoid of any enemy sea life. More surprising, and also concerning, though, was the fact that he did not appear to cross into a stasis barrier. As if sensing his concern, he heard Midna's voice echo through his mind, saying, "I've scanned the surroundings here. There is no stasis barrier in this area, though I can't say the same for any area all that far away from the cave's entrance. I'm also concerned that we may be on the clock here, so we have to find the cave's entrance quickly."

Link nodded and when he touched down onto the seafloor, he began to search diligently for the entrance to the Cave of Ordeals. He eventually found saw the small downward slope that led to a cave. He figured that this had to be the entrance to the cave and walked down it until he was standing just outside an opening that looked like it could fit two humans standing abreast. Outside the cave, he came across a sign, saying, _The Cave of Ordeals. Test your mettle against a gauntlet of tough enemies for great prizes_. Link arched his eyebrows in surprise. The sign looked to be more of an advertisement than a deterrent to entry. Just beyond was a door barring the way. Not letting the sign, or advertisement, as it seemed to be, affect him, the hero opened the door, causing water to flood into the cave, made his way into the cave.

As soon as he had entered the Cave, he closed the door before the cave could be completely flooded. After the door closed shut, he noticed that despite the force of the rushing water, that the ground was little more than damp. Either there was a magical power that got rid of the excess water out of the cave or it had a very good drainage system.

As soon as he had entered and saw that the air was breathable, he removed his Zora Armor and Midna emerged from his shadow. The two then immediately went to work searching for the first room in the cave, wanting to get this part of the quest out of the way as quickly as possible. They found the door a few meters away, marked by two lit torches on each side of the open door that were illuminating the area. Before entering, Link took one last stock of his inventory, knowing that he would need to have all of his bomb bags and quivers be full if he were going to succeed in making it through the cave. Once he was ready, Link led the way into the first room, followed closely by Midna.

When they entered the first room, they went down a series of steps and emerged in a room with a stone wall and two lit torches that revealed the entrance to the next room in the cave. This surprised Link since on their last trip through the cave, they had needed to defeat the enemy that was present on the floor before being able to continue deeper into the cave. Coming to the edge of the ledge that led to the room, Link and Midna jumped off of the ledge and landed on the floor. There, they were met by two Purple Bokoblins, which caused Link to react with surprise. He had not expected to find surface-dwelling inhabitants down here. The two imp-like creatures wielded stone clubs with spikes on them. The moment they laid eyes on Link and Midna, they charged the duo. Link stood ready, holding the Master Sword out in front of him. Once the Bokoblins arrived, Link dealt with them with a single horizontal slash, bisecting the two monsters. With the way clear, Link and Midna continued on to the next room, not giving any further thoughts as to the surprise of finding living surface-dwellers in the cave.

Once they entered the door that led to the second room, they found themselves walking down another flight of stairs that led to the second floor in the cave. When they emerged into the second room, they were met by a couple of rats that looked to be standing among skeletons of what looked to be dead Bulblins. Midna's eyes went wide at the scene.

"Link, shouldn't we be facing living opponents down here?"

Link nodded. That did not stop the rats from rushing towards him, seeing him and the former Twilight Queen as a meal. A single swing from the Master Sword ended their foolish dreams of a half-Hylian meal. With the felling of the rats, the doorway to the third floor of the cave was revealed. Before continuing through the cave, though, Midna looked over to Link and said, "I don't like this. Someone else is here. What could they be after?"

"I don't know," Link answered. "I doubt that the Light Arrows would be useful for anyone unless they were good. Can you sense anyone out of the ordinary down here besides us?"

The Twili closed her eyes and extended her senses beyond the doors and was able to see that they were open. However, her sight stopped at approximately the tenth room. It was apparent, though, that there was magic at work here, for her ability to see the later floors was being confounded by magic. She then opened her eyes and answered, "I can only sense to the tenth room down here. However, that is only because there is magic that is blocking my sight beyond those doors."

"Did the one using the magic sense us?"

"I don't think so," Midna answered. "All the same, it would probably be best if I hid in your shadow until you really need my help. I'd rather whatever is down there not realize that there are two people entering the cave for a while."

Link nodded in agreement. Midna then disappeared in a burst of twilight particles and merged with Link's shadow, hiding in it but still able to burst forth and attack an enemy should the need arise. With nothing more behind them, Link headed through the door, taking the steps down to the third chamber.

When he emerged in the third chamber, he was met with a single Skulltula. This Skulltula was of the type that he was more familiar with. Instead of crawling down from the ceiling and having a skull on the upper part of its abdomen, it crawled along the ground and was noticeably larger than the Skulltulas inside the Great Deku Tree. As Link approached the spider, the creature began to rear back and dash towards the hero. Link dove out of the way as the spider rushed past him, preparing to turn to attack once more after it overshot its initial attack. Link made himself a difficult target, though, running around to the spider's backside and performing a spin attack. As the sword spun around the hero, a red wave of energy was released. The spin attack, itself, did little damage to the spider, but the force of the spin and the energy wave did lift the spider off the ground and flip it onto its back. One thing this Skulltula had in common with the ones found in the Great Deku Tree was the fact that this Skulltula's weakness was its underbelly. When the spider landed on its back, it struggled to right itself, opening itself to further attack from the hero. Link quickly took advantage of the opening and leaped into the air straight towards the spider's soft underbelly. Link then thrust the blade down into the spider's underbelly as he performed his Ending Blow. The blade bit into the spider's flesh and stabbed deep into the creature. Link then pulled out the blade and performed a back flip off of the spider, landing deftly on his feet. The spider then exploded in a blast of woodchip-like organic debris pieces and orange energy, which quickly dissipated. With the Skulltula being defeated, the way to the fourth floor was open. Link immediately made his way through the door and down the stairs, entering the fourth chamber of the cave.

As he entered the fourth chamber, he found himself staring out over an empty chamber. The door to the next level was already open and the torches lining the entrance were already lit. "It looks like whoever was here before us really did a number on the denizens of the cave," Link heard Midna note from his shadow.

He nodded in agreement. He did not remember the Cave of Ordeals being this barren of enemies before. If it was this barren, then he suspected that whoever was had come through the cave was not only still present, but that he or she was still traveling through the cave. This gave Link and Midna hope that they could make their way through the chambers and deeper into the cave without having to use up their ammunition since they both knew that the enemies did not drop any ammunition upon their defeat. If he could go through a good number of rooms without facing stiff resistance that would require the use of his more powerful weaponry, he would be in better position to finish the quest through the cave if he came across some unusually powerful opponents. With that thought, Link went to the stairwell that took him down to the fifth chamber.

When he entered the fifth chamber, he stood on the ledge overlooking a chamber that was filled with four Deku Babas. The moment Link leapt off of the ledge and landed in the chamber, the Babas sprouted up and began lunging at him. They were no match for the hero, though. He charged towards each of them and dispatched them with a single swing of his sword for each of the carnivorous plants. With the Deku Babas having been dealt with, the way was clear for him to enter the sixth chamber. He promptly crossed the room and made his way to the stairwell that took him to the next chamber.

Once he entered the next chamber, he was immediately met with a barrage of arrows, forcing him to raise his shield. The arrows glanced off of his shield and the hero peered out to see four Bulblin archers stationed on the floor of the chamber. They were stationed pretty close together, though, which was fortunate for Link. He quickly took out a single bomb, backed off a bit, and waited for a lull in the arrow volley. Once there was a lull as the Bulblins were trying to adjust their aim to hit him, he lit its fuse. He then rushed forward and tossed it down to the chamber, quickly raising his shield to intercept the incoming barrage of arrows. He constantly moved back and forth to make himself a difficult target for the archers to get an accurate bead on. The archers were so focused on him that they ignored the bomb that had landed among them. After a few seconds, the bomb detonated, sending the Bulblins flying in all directions. Link promptly jumped down into the chamber and checked on the monsters to make sure that they were dead. Two of the monsters were dead while two others were still able to move. Link quickly slashed their bows and took their arrow quivers, feeling as if this would be a good opportunity to stock up on more arrows, just in case he needed to use more in the future. In addition, some of the arrows appeared to be explosive arrows, which would be useful against more powerful foes. Link then struck the two surviving monsters with the flat of his sword once on the head to render them unconscious. With the Bulblins having been defeated, he made his way to the newly opened door at the end of the chamber and went on through to the stairwell that led down to the seventh chamber.

As soon as he entered the seventh chamber, he noticed that there was no ledge. Instead, he was standing in a small room with six Fire Keese flying about the room. The bats immediately noticed the hero enter the room and began to dive towards him. Link raised his Hylian Shield and caught the bat-like enemies, their fires being extinguished as they collided with his shield. However, Link could not retaliate against the first group of now normal Keese since he was still being bombarded by the remaining Keese.

Once the final Keese had collided with his shield, though, he was able to safely launch his counterattack. He slashed at the last Keese to hit his shield and extinguish its flame, bisecting it with ease. The other Keese were more difficult to strike, though, for they were not attacking him at the same time, each one making their way to the lit torches so they could ignite once more. Link was tempted to take out his slingshot to shoot them down but he did not want to waste the ammunition this early in the cave. If he had to face down dozens of Keese later on he wanted to be in a position where he would have sufficient ammunition to deal with them without having to resort to arrows or bombs. He charged after the Keese and managed to intercept two of them before the other three managed to make it to the fire and reignite. Once they did so, they immediately turned around to dive towards Link once more. Link was not going to waste time with them, though, and performed a spin attack to cut down the bat-like enemies. Once the enemies had been dealt with, the door in front of Link opened, revealing the stairwell that led to the eighth chamber. Once the fires had consumed the bodies of the Keese, Link proceeded to the stairwell and went down to the next chamber.

When Link entered the next chamber, he found that, just like the last chamber, the doorway led straight into the chamber. Here, he was met by six Tektites, three of them red and three of them blue. Link held out his sword and moved around the room wanting to make sure that they could not corner him. Tektites were not dangerous for him in normal circumstances if encountered one and two at a time, but if the six Tektites converged on him all at the same time, he could be in trouble if he was not quick enough in dealing with them and if his spin attack did not kill all of the spider-like enemies.

Link spied on the Tektites and saw that they were slow to turn to face him. He took advantage of their slow reaction time and charged the rearmost of the four legged spider-like enemies. A single slash cut the spider-like enemy to pieces. The other Tektites were too slow to react to Link and before they had even turned to face him, two more Tektites had fallen to Link's blade. By the time they were able to react and jump at him, Link was already on the move again. Another swing of his sword cut down another Tektite, leaving only two of the spider-like enemies remaining. The two Tektites then went to approach Link but their numbers were too badly thinned and Link was not even winded. Two more swipes of his sword finished off the enemies. Once the Tektites had been dealt with, the door to the ninth chamber opened. Link crossed the room and went through the door and made his way down the stairs into the chamber.

Once Link entered the ninth chamber, he encountered six flaming torch-like enemies known as Torch Slugs. Not giving the slugs any time to react, he charged into the fray and slashed at the nearest of the slugs with his sword, bisecting the creature. Another Torch Slug unleashed a wave of fire that extended about two meters. Link easily dodged the wave and charged in, slaying the second of the slugs. The remaining slugs did not last much longer as the hero quickly went over to them and dispatched them with single sword slashes, evading the waves of flame they released seemingly at random, rather than when provoked. After the slugs had been defeated, he went over to the stairwell that led to the tenth chamber and proceeded to make his way down the stairs.

As he traveled down the stairs, the light coming from the end of the tunnel seemed different. The glow seemed to be green, rather than the normal orange of natural flames. There was something magical about it. He remembered from his previous excursion into the cave that on every tenth level, the Great Fairy would be waiting and release fairies into a Fairy Spring. However, since fairies had already been released into the fairy springs, he suspected that he would either get another gift or receive none at all, simply having to move on to the next level.

When he arrived in the tenth chamber, he noticed green torches surrounding both doors to both the entrance and to the exit. There was a fountain in the center of the room. Link could hear the sound of flowing water but there was only the fountain and there was no visible water feeding the fountain. Standing in the fountain was the Great Fairy. Physically, she looked to be young, like a woman in her late teens to early twenties. She wore a rainbow pattern skirt that covered about half of her thighs. She was also topless, with only her long green hair covering her body.

"Welcome to the Cave of Ordeals, brave hero," the Great Fairy opened. "I am the Great Fairy. I reign over all fairies in this realm as their queen. There are other Great Fairies located in this cave, too. They are located on later floors."

As the Great Fairy was speaking, Midna rose from Link's shadow, startling the Great Fairy a bit, causing her to step back, and focused her gaze on the fairy. "When we entered the cave, I sensed the presence of another," the Twili stated plainly.

"Yes," the Great Fairy nodded.

"Do you know who it is?"

"Not with certainty," the Great Fairy answered. "However, he claims to be god of some sort and he is not of this realm. He arrived here through a rift, the artifact you call, somewhat inaccurately, as the Mirror of Twilight. The Mirror allows one to travel to many different realms and parallel realms. It is from one of those realms that this person is from."

"Is he good or evil?" Link asked.

"Evil," the Great Fairy answered quickly. "When he arrived here, I sensed nothing but anger and rage in his heart. He desires power, and he believes that he can obtain it through the treasure found inside the Cave of Ordeals."

"How powerful is he?" the hero asked.

"I don't know," the Great Fairy answered. "He was physically strong but I could not ascertain his magical strength. If he claims to be a god, though, then chances are that he is powerful."

This gave Link and Midna little comfort. They remained in the Great Fairy's presence for a few moments longer to see if she would give them something or had any more information to give them. When she made no moves, they figured that there was little reason to stay. Link then turned towards the exit that would take him to the eleventh chamber and they departed. As they were traveling down the stairwell, Midna retreated back into Link's shadow, wanting to make sure that her presence was cloaked so if the enemy at the end of the cave was stronger than anticipated, they would be able to take him by surprise.

Link went down the stairwell and entered the eleventh chamber. As they entered the eleventh chamber, they encountered two Lizalfos. The bipedal lizards were armed with swords and had axes on their tails. Link, not wanting to fight in a protracted battle against the enemies, promptly sheathed his sword and stepped out into the chamber. The lizard-like enemies spotted him almost immediately and began to charge him. Link remained still as they approached, not wanting them to assume a defensive posture. He wanted to end this fight with one swing of his sword. The two enemies quickly closed the distance and when they were only a few feet away from Link and had raised their swords to bring down on the hero's head, the half-Hylian made his move. Link quickly gripped the hilt of the Master Sword and drew it. With a single motion, he brought the sword down onto the two Lizalfos, beheading one of the Lizalfos and bisecting the other one. With both enemies defeated, the way to the twelfth chamber opened. The hero promptly made his way towards the exit and went down the stairwell to face his next ordeal.

When he entered the twelfth chamber, the area appeared to be barren at first. The ground was made of sand, unlike the dirt floors of the chambers, so Link had a feeling that he knew what to expect. He stepped out onto the sandy floor and several Leevers immediately sprouted from the floor and moved streaked towards him. Link grimaced as he drew the Master Sword and waited for the Leevers to converge on him. Once they were within range, he performed his Great Spin Attack, releasing a red energy wave from the Master Sword that destroyed the four cactus-like enemies. Immediately upon the destruction of the four Leevers, four more sprouted from the ground. As they sprouted, a sparkle of energy traveled along the blade of the Master Sword accompanied by a ringing sound, indicating that he was able to perform another Great Spin Attack. He waited for the Leevers to converge on him and when they did so, he performed another Great Spin Attack, wiping out the four Leevers. Two more waves of Leevers came at Link, only to be felled by the hero. Once they were all dealt with, the door to the twelfth chamber opened. Link immediately ran to the door and followed the stairwell down deeper into the cave.

When he emerged in the twelfth chamber, he encountered six of Bubbles, winged skulls with glowing orange eyes. The Bubbles wasted no time charging towards the hero. However, since these were normal Bubbles and did not have any magical flames, they were of little threat to the hero. Link simply sliced each Bubble as it approached him and within seconds, the room was cleared and the door leading to the thirteenth chamber opened. Wasting no time, Link surged through the door and went down the stairs to face his next challenge.

In the next chamber, he found pieces of metal that resembled masks littering the ground. There seemed to have been a fight here, but there were no remains save for a few skeletons of quadrupedal creatures and some rats. Link promptly ran into the chamber and, seeing that the door to the next chamber was not open yet, he went over and dispatched the rats. Once the rats were dead, the door to the fourteenth chamber rose and revealed the way deeper into the cave and the hero went through the door and down the stairs to the next challenge.

This chamber seemed to have only a single Helmasaur, a green saurian-like creature that looked to be about the size of a dog. It had red markings on its thick hind legs and a large metal helmet on the front of its face that was invulnerable to sword strikes. Link, however, had experience dealing with Helmasaurs before, so he was not fazed by the presence of the beast. As soon as the beast sighted the hero, it charged towards him. Link stood firm and simply took out his Clawshot and pointed it at the charging beast. Once he was sure of his aim, he pulled the trigger and the claw opened and shot forth from the Clawshot. The claw stabbed and grabbed the Helmasaur's helmet and retracted, pulling off the helmet. With the monster's helmet removed, Link simply drew the Master Sword and with one swift stroke, dispatched the creature. With the Helmasaur's defeat, the door to the fifteenth chamber opened. Link then walked through the door and down to his next challenge.

In the fifteenth chamber, the moment he stepped out onto the floor, skeletal quadrupeds called Stalhounds rose from the floor. There were four of them that Link could see. He was familiar with these enemies and they posed little threat to him. He simply held out his sword and charged into the group, taking down the four Stalhounds with single slashes. As soon as the four were taken down, four more rose from the ground. These were dispatched with just as easily as the first four and after a few more sword swings, Link had cleared the room. Once the room was cleared, the path to the sixteenth chamber opened. Link promptly went through the door and down the stairs to the next chamber.

Once he entered the next chamber, he was faced with a group of purple gelatinous Chus. These Chus were of little threat to him and he simply charged towards them before they even detected his presence and defeated them with single slashes. The defeated Chus left puddles of purple Chu Jelly. Since the purple Chu Jelly had no predictable health properties, he decided to let the puddles soak into the dirt and made his way to the entrance to the seventeenth chamber.

After making his way down the steps, he entered a room that was just as plain as the other rooms that he had entered. In this room, though, a Stalfos awaited him. The skeletal fighter was armed with a large, thick sword whose "point" flared into a spike on the end, and a round shield. The skeleton turned to face him as soon as he had entered the room and charged right towards Link, holding its sword high. Link raised his shield and prepared to intercept the coming attack. The skeleton brought its sword down upon the hero, only to have its strike be intercepted by the hero's shield. A loud clang rang out as metal struck metal. Link thrust his shield forward to knock the Stalfos off balance. The skeleton staggered backwards and its guard opened. Link thrust his sword forward only for the skeleton to raise his sword to parry the blow. The Stalfos then attacked again, slashing at Link, prompting him to jump to his side and then roll on the ground in order to get behind the Stalfos's guard. He managed to do so and then rose and performed a slash at the exposed skeleton's rear. The sword sliced through the bones and the Stalfos collapsed into a pile of bones on the ground. This was not the end of the Stalfos, though, not yet. Link knew this, though, having had experience dealing with Stalfos, and drew out a bomb. He lit its fuse and then dropped it right onto the pile of bones. He then fled the scene as the fuse burned down and the bomb eventually exploded a few seconds later. The detonation was more than sufficient to destroy the Stalfos to the point where it could not pull itself back together. With the Stalfos having been dealt with, the way to the eighteenth chamber opened.

Link made his way through the door and down to the next chamber. When he entered the next chamber, he came across more Bulblin archers. He counted six in his current field of view. These Bulblins were located on ledges above the room, meaning that he could not simply deal with them by charging into their ranks and cutting them down with a sword. Fortunately, he still had the bundles of arrows that he had taken from the first group of Bulblin archers that he had slain. When he entered the chamber and the archers noticed him, they took aim and unleashed a volley of flaming arrows at the hero, prompting him to retreat to the chamber's entrance.

Standing in the doorway to the room for cover, he took out his bow and notched an arrow to it. Once he was ready, he peered out and found himself able to get a clear bead on one of the archers. The archer he targeted was already targeting Link and had unleashed an arrow. Link ducked back to avoid the arrow, which glanced off of the wall near the entrance. Link peered back and fired his arrow. His aim was true and it struck the Bulblin archer squarely between the eyes. He then ducked back so as to avoid the next volley of arrows. Once the next volley had stopped, he peered back out and took aim at another Bulblin archer. Firing off his arrow, the arrow rocketed from his bowstring to the Bulblin in less than a second. The arrow struck the Bulblin archer squarely in the chest and the creature fell off of the ledge and down into the chamber. Link repeated this four more times until all six visible Bulblin archers were defeated. When he saw that the door to the nineteenth chamber had not yet opened, he realized that there were still more archers to deal with.

He quickly changed into his Magic Armor so as to not be caught off guard when he entered the room again. He also drew his bow and notched an arrow to it, knowing that speed would be key for this fight. As he entered, sure enough, he quickly turned and looked upwards, finding two more Bulblin archers. As soon as they saw him, they fired on him, one arrow striking him in his Magic Armor, causing a ringing sound to echo throughout the chamber, indicating the loss of Rupees due to the hit. Link drew a bead on the closest of the Bulblin archers and fired off an arrow. It scored a direct hit on the Bulblin and felled the creature, the goblin-like creature falling from its perch into the chamber. Link then backed off as the sole remaining Bulblin fired at him, the arrow sticking into the ground a few feet in front of him. As the Bulblin went to draw his next arrow, Link had already drawn his and was pulling back on his bowstring. He quickly let fly with the arrow. The arrow found its mark in the Bulblin's chest and the Bulblin fell backwards as it was slain. With the slaying of the final Bulblin, the way to the nineteenth chamber opened.

Link made his way into the nineteenth chamber and found it to be occupied by eight Ice Keese. The Ice Keese were normal Keese with icy blue flames surrounding them. Link did not want to waste arrows on them so he drew out his slingshot and readied some seeds to use as slingshot bullets. Knowing that even if he used his shield to block the Keese he would still be frozen, he made sure to move about the room as he targeted the Keese so they could not easily dive-bomb him. He took aim at each Keese, leading his shots so that the bat-like enemies would fly into the paths of the bullets. He then fired and took down his first Ice Keese, the bat-like enemy falling from the sky and was consumed by the magical icy flame. He repeated the process with the rest of the Keese and after he had cleared the room, the door to the next chamber, and a Great Fairy Fountain opened. With nothing further to do in this chamber, Link made his way to the twentieth chamber, and the next Great Fairy Fountain.

As he went down the steps, he found that the torches at the bottom were lit with red flames. As he entered the chamber, he found that the Great Fairy Fountain was unoccupied, which greatly surprised him since he had expected to see the Great Fairy standing in the middle of it. To see if the Great Fairy was truly away, he stepped into the center of the fountain and waited for a full minute for her to appear. When she did not appear, he decided that it was not worth staying in the fountain. The waters had already revitalized him and he was at full strength with no sign of fatigue. With that, he left the fountain and proceeded down to the twenty-first chamber.

In the next chamber, Link encountered another Helmasaur. Before the beast could react, Link pulled out his Clawshot and fired it at the Helmasaur's mask. It latched onto the metal mask and pulled it off of the creature. Even without its mask, though, the creature was not warded off and charged the hero. As the beast closed in on Link, Link drew his sword and performed a Mortal Draw and ended the beast's threat with a single strike. Once the Helmasaur was beaten, the door to the twenty-second chamber opened. Link promptly proceeded to the exit and took the stairwell down to the next level.

In the next level, Link faced off against another pack of Stalhounds. This time, he faced down six of the skeletal beasts. Immediately upon noticing the hero, the beasts turned and charged him. Having faced such attacks before, Link readied his sword and performed a Great Spin Attack. The energy wave that was emitted by the Master Sword struck four of the six beasts, two of them backing away as Link readied his attack, as if they knew what he was about to do. Four of the Stalhounds were destroyed by the attack but the two survivors quickly launched an attack on Link, wanting to take him down before the Master Sword was fully charged and Link could perform another spin attack. Still, they did not count on the hero's fighting skill and were taken off guard when Link leapt into the air and performed a jump attack on one of the beasts. The strike destroyed one of the undead beasts while the other went to attack Link while he was recovering. Link, however, turned and caught the skeletal beast's attack using a Shield Attack to push back the beast. Link then thrust his sword forward and took down the beast. Once the final Stalhound was defeated, the door to the twenty-third chamber opened, prompting the hero to make his way down to the next chamber.

When he emerged in the twenty-third chamber, he was met by four purple Bokoblins, each of them armed with spiked clubs. The Bokoblins were no match for him, though, and he knew that he could take them down. As the Bokoblins charged him, he waded into their ranks, his sword drawn, and proceeded to cut them down with single swings, deftly dodging or parrying their attacks. Within a few seconds, the battle was over and Link was victorious. As soon as the fight had ended, the way to the twenty-fourth chamber opened. As soon as the door opened, Link made his way through the door and down the stairs to make his way deeper into the chamber.

When he emerged from the door to the next chamber, he found himself staring at a single purple Chu. He almost dropped his sword in shock at how easy this fight would be. The Chu slid towards him slowly but the hero knew that it would jump at him once it got close. He did not give the slime creature a chance to attack and simply charged in and destroyed the Chu with a single sword slash. Once the Chu was dead, the door to the next chamber opened. As soon as the door opened, Link made his way down the stairwell and into the twenty-fifth chamber.

As soon as he entered the chamber, he noticed that it was bare. This indicated that he would face undead creatures here. Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out onto the floor, two bipedal skeletal enemies known as Stalkin emerged from the ground and attacked. They were armed with spears and held them out as they charged towards the hero. They were no match for Link, though, and Link deftly evaded their spear thrusts and took them down with single swings of his sword. With the Stalkin defeated, the door to the twenty-sixth chamber opened. With that, Link made his way to the door and walked down the stairwell and entered the next chamber.

In the next chamber, Link saw a number of rats on the ground near several skeletons that looked to be Bokoblin skeletons. He shrugged as he searched for the entrance to the next chamber, hoping that it was still open. Seeing that it was closed, he knew that he would have to deal with the rats before he could progress. Wasting no time, he went to each group of rats and cut them down, often taking down two and three rats with a single swing of his sword. In less than ten seconds, the rats were dealt with and the door to the twenty-seventh chamber opened, prompting the hero to continue on his quest.

When he emerged from the stairwell and entered the next chamber, he saw that his next challenge would be defeating a group of six Bulblins. These Bulblins were armed with clubs and immediately charged towards Link as soon as the hero entered the chamber. Link focused on the enemies as he waded into the fray, striking first and taking down two Bulblins with a single swing of his sword. He then deftly dodged a swing from one Bulblin and thrust his sword backwards, catching the Bulblin in the chest and felling it. After withdrawing his sword, he cut down another Bulblin as it raised its club to attack the hero. He then had to raise his shield to catch the final two attacks, a muted clang echoing throughout the chamber as he caught the attacks. He then finished off the final two Bulblins with a single swing of his sword. Once they were dealt with, the way to the twenty-eighth chamber opened, prompting the hero to proceed further into the cave.

Upon entering the twenty-eighth chamber, Link encountered two Deku Babas. These carnivorous plants sprouted from the ground and lashed out at the hero as he approached. They were no match for him, though, and he was able to take down each Deku Baba with a single swing of his sword. Once the Deku Babas had been dispatched, the doorway to the twenty-ninth chamber opened, allowing the hero to pass.

When he entered the twenty-ninth chamber, he found that his next challenge would be against a single Moblin. This Moblin was armed with a spear and wore armor over its chest and on its shoulders. Not wanting to engage the pig-like enemy in close combat, Link drew out his bow and notched an arrow to the bow just as the creature had spotted him and held out its spear in preparation for a charge. Link let fly with his arrow, and it flew straight into the creature's chest, felling it. With the Moblin dead, the path to the thirtieth chamber opened. As Link made his way down to the chamber, he began to feel surprise at just how easy this quest was for him.

As he walked down the stairs, he saw two torches lining the door with purple flames lighting them. As he entered the chamber, though, he saw that there was no Great Fairy present there as well. Missing the Great Fairy once was an aberration. Twice was suspicious. Something was going on here, and he began to worry about how easy the Cave of Ordeals was. Wasting no further time in the chamber, Link proceeded on his way.

After taking the stairwell down to the thirty-first chamber, he entered the chamber and found four rats in the chamber. Link was barely able to hide his shock as he was expecting to face down much more menacing opposition. He simply made his way towards the rats and cut them down with single strokes of his sword. He did not even stop as he continued walking towards the opening door that led to the thirty-second chamber.

In the thirty-second chamber, Link found only a single Bulblin archer for him to deal with. What made it easier was the fact that the archer was stationed on the ground. Link simply pulled out his bow and notched an arrow to it. He took aim at the Bulblin as it was drawing an arrow to string to its bow and he let fly with his arrow once he had drawn a bead on the creature. His arrow struck true and felled the Bulblin. With the Bulblin having been dealt with, the path to the thirty-third chamber opened.

As soon as Link entered the thirty-third chamber, he looked out over a bare floor. While the last few chambers had not been difficult for him to complete, he knew that bare floors often hid undead enemies. He was soon proven correct as he stepped out onto the floor and two Stalkin came stalking towards him. Still, this was not all that great of a threat and he quickly dispatched the Stalkin with a single swing of his sword. As he felled the creatures, he was expecting to face another wave when the door to the thirty-fourth chamber opened. Not wasting any time, he continued to make his way down to the next chamber.

As soon as he entered the next chamber, he was faced with two Chus. Again, defeating these foes was not a dangerous task for the hero and he simply ran at the Chus and destroyed them with a single sword swing for each Chu. Once the Chus were defeated, the door to the thirty-fifth chamber opened.

As soon as Link had entered the door and walked down the stairwell, he walked out into the next chamber seeing two Moblins. As soon as he saw the Moblins, he took out his bow and readied an arrow. Taking aim at the closest of the two pig-like creatures, he fired his arrow. His arrow's aim was true and felled the beast, hitting it in the chest. The second Moblin charged Link, holding out its spear. Link sidestepped the charge and drew his sword. As soon as the Moblin ran past him, he thrust out his blade and caught the beast in the side between its armor plates. The beast immediately fell forward, dead. With the two Moblins having been dealt with, the way to the thirty-sixth chamber opened. As Link made his way down to the chamber, he did not know whether or not to feel relief at the fact that this chamber had held two Moblins, rather than some more worthless enemies.

The thirty-sixth chamber, however, was the easiest one he had yet to face, for he only had a single Chu to deal with. He shrugged at the sight of the slime-based creature and began to think that he was catching up to whoever else was in the chamber. He ran up to the Chu and dispatched it with a single sword swing. With the Chu having been dealt with, the way to the thirty-seventh chamber of the Cave of Ordeals opened.

When he emerged in the next chamber, he was faced with four Keese. Taking out his slingshot, he took aim at each of the Keese and shot them down one at a time from the safety of the doorway, standing far enough away that they would not detect him. After four shots, each of the Keese was dead. With the Keese having been defeated, the door to the thirty-eighth chamber opened.

The thirty-eighth chamber contained a quartet of purple Bokoblins. The imp-like creatures immediately charged towards the hero as soon as he set foot into the chamber. Link waited for them to converge on him so he could take them out with a single Great Spin Attack. As soon as they were within range, he did just that, felling each Bokoblin with the spin attack. With the Bokoblins having been dealt with, the way to the thirty-ninth chamber opened.

When he emerged in the thirty-ninth chamber, he found that the chamber was inhabited by four rats. This was going to be pathetically easy for him to win. He simply walked into the chamber and took down each rat with a single swing of his sword. When the rats were all dead, the way to the fortieth chamber, and the next Great Fairy Fountain, opened. With nothing further to do in this chamber, he went into the next chamber.

As he walked down the stairwell, he found that the torches that lined the door were lit with a blue flame. As soon as he emerged from the stairwell, he found the Great Fairy Fountain situated in the middle of the room. As he approached, he found that the Great Fairy was not present in the fountain. He soon saw the door to the forty-first chamber at the other end of the room. Before continuing on his quest, Midna partially emerged from the shadows and told him, "Link, I have a bad feeling about this. The last series of chambers were pathetically easy."

"I know," Link answered. He had the same concerns as Midna. He knew that they were getting close to the end. At least now, though, he could start using more of his arsenal to deal with more dangerous enemies, assuming there were more dangerous enemies. Wasting no more time, Link made his way down the stairwell and to the forty-first chamber, beginning the final stretch of the Cave of Ordeals.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

Link made his way down to the forty-first chamber and when he exited the stairwell, he stopped on the ledge above and peered down into the chamber. As he did so, he found that three Moblins would be his challenge. Not wanting to waste time and energy engaging them in a fair fight, Link stayed up on the ledge and took out his bow. He drew out an arrow and notched it to the bow. Taking aim at the nearest Moblin, he pulled back on the string and let fly with his arrow. He scored a direct hit on the Moblin, the arrow striking the beast between the eyes. The beast immediately fell to the ground, dead. The hero repeated the process with the other two Moblins, who were only equipped with spears and did not think to look up at the ledge for the hero, and soon, the room was clear. Link then jumped down into the chamber and walked towards the stairwell that led down to the forty-second chamber.

When he emerged from the stairwell and walked out onto the ledge, he found himself staring at what looked to be an underground coliseum. He counted a dozen ledges on the wall surrounding the sandy central floor, each of them being occupied by a Bulblin archer. There were also six Ice Keese flying about the chamber, seemingly minding their own business. They did not notice the hero as he had entered. As soon as the Bulblin archers spotted him, they drew arrows from their quivers and took aim at the hero. Link was faster to react, though, and managed to fire off two arrows at the closest of the Bulblin archers, taking them down before the other archers managed to fire on him. He quickly crouched and raised his shield over himself in order to avoid the fire. Some of the arrows struck the rock on the side of his ledge and glanced off of it. Others stuck in the ground just in front of him and behind him, with a few sticking to either side of him. Others found their mark on his shield, glancing off of the metallic shield. As they went to draw more arrows, Link drew a bead on another Bulblin archer and fired off another arrow. His arrow hit true and struck the Bulblin right between the eyes, causing the goblin-like enemy to fall from the ledge and to the floor. Link considered going to the floor to try to get a better field of view as well as having more room to evade the enemy fire. However, he also knew that the remaining Bulblins would have the high ground and he would be at a disadvantage if he did so. Given their recent display of accuracy, or lack thereof, he decided that it would be best to continue to fight from the ledge. He fired off another arrow and took down another Bulblin: four down, eight to go.

During his fight against the Bulblins, though, the Ice Keese had noticed the hero's arrival. One of them began to make a dive towards the hero. Link was forced to divert his attention away from the Bulblins and deal with the Keese. Not having the time to draw his sword or any other weapon, he drew an arrow and notched it to his string. He backed off a bit so that the bat-like creature would have to level out its descent. When it did, he let fly with an arrow. It struck the Keese and pierced it, the arrow practically cutting it in half and causing the body to fly with the arrow. The arrow continued until it struck a Bulblin, taking it down. He then turned his attention back to the Bulblins.

When he returned his attention to the Bulblins, he continued to target the goblin-like enemies while still keeping his shield up. He would raise his shield to intercept the arrow volley and then lower it so he could return fire, oftentimes being able to take down two Bulblins before having to go back on defense. He was also on the lookout for more the remaining Keese and took down another one as it had tried to dive-bomb him. However, he quickly realized that he was using up arrows at an alarming rate and had already gone through the spare bundles of arrows that he had acquired earlier.

Eventually, Link managed to take down the remaining Bulblin archers. The last two archers had opened fire on him, prompting him to raise his shield just as he had done before. Once their volley had ended, he drew his own bow and fired at the Bulblins, one arrow each, taking them down with ease. That left only the Keese to deal with. Since he did not want to waste any more arrows on the remaining bat-like enemies, he took out his slingshot and loaded its pocket with a seed. He then targeted the nearest Keese and took it down. He repeated the process three more times until each of the Keese had been killed. With the enemies dead, Link jumped down to the floor and searched for the exit to the next chamber. When he found it, he proceeded to walk through the door and down the stairwell to the forty-third chamber.

When he emerged in the next chamber, he found himself facing off against a Darknut. The Darknut immediately saw him and held its shield out in front of it, raising its sword as it slowly approached Link. Link remained close to the entrance and readied the remaining explosive arrows that he still had in his arsenal. He targeted the Darknut and fired arrow after arrow, carefully aiming the arrows so that he did not strike the shield directly since the Darknut would be able to absorb the attacks if he directly hit the shield. The explosions engulfed the Darknut in smoke and flame, pieces of armor breaking off with each detonation. Eventually, the plate armor of the Darknut had taken too much damage and fell off. One final arrow even struck the shield and blew it off, too. This indicated to the Darknut that it would have to be a more evasive fighter. It immediately tossed its sword at Link, who deftly dodged the arcing sword, and drew a long sword in replacement. It immediately charged towards Link, who knew that using arrows and bombs would not be of much use against a more agile foe like this.

Link immediately raised his shield as the Darknut arrived and performed a quick succession of cuts, each of which were intercepted by the hero's shield. The impacts still sent Link skidding back a few inches, though. The hero then proceeded to circle around, rolling along the ground to rise up and perform a Back Slice. The attack scored a hit on the Darknut and the sword pierced its chainmail armor, knocking it down. Link then quickly leapt into the air and performed an Ending Blow on the large enemy, burying the point of his blade into the back of the soldier. The moment he did so, the Darknut exploded into what looked to be organic woodchips and orange energy. With the Darknut defeated, the way to the forty-fourth chamber opened, prompting Link to walk on through.

When he emerged from the stairwell, he found himself standing on a ledge overlooking another chamber. In this chamber, six Armos statues, large and heavy statues that looked to be made out of stone, carrying a stone sword and shield, were situated throughout the chamber. Fortunately, many of them were stationed close to the ledge right below him so he could safely take them out with his Bombs. He quickly went to work taking out his normal bombs and readying them. He dropped one of them amongst three Armos statues and waited for a second before dropping a second one. The first bomb detonated, causing the Armos statues to come alive. The second bomb was detonated by the first one's detonation and the explosion quickly engulfed the Armos statues. The defeated Armos statues circled around the room as they began to glow before they exploded. Their explosions washed over the other Armos statues, bringing them to life just in time for the subsequent explosions to finish them off. After a short while, all six Armos were destroyed, Link only having expended two bombs to finish off the threat. With the Armos defeated, Link jumped down into the chamber and looked for the exit. Finding it to his right, he proceeded through the door and walked down the stairs to the forty-fifth chamber, and his next challenge.

In the forty-fifth chamber, he saw four Moblins patrolling the chamber. Knowing that it would not be wise to get into a close combat fight against the Moblins and risk severe injury, he decided to snipe them from the chamber's entrance. Targeting the closest of the Moblins, he readied his bow and then fired the arrow. The arrow struck the beast right between the eyes and the beast fell over, dead. Link repeated the process three times, felling all of the Moblins. With the Moblins having been dealt with, he proceeded through the now open door to the stairwell that led to the forty-sixth chamber. As he made his way down to the next chamber, he carefully checked his inventory to make sure that he was not running low on arrows. He wanted to make sure that he did not run out of arrows at a critical moment.

When he emerged from the door and stepped out onto the ledge overlooking the forty-sixth chamber, he found that there were four Dynalfos patrolling the chamber. Again, not wanting to waste time facing enemies in close combat, Link sniped them from above. Four shots were all he needed in order to take down the Dynalfos. Once the enemies were beaten, the way to the forty-seventh chamber opened.

After making his way down the stairwell that led to the forty-seventh chamber, he emerged in an ice-filled chamber with an ice floor. Three large Freezards turned to face him the moment he stepped out onto the floor. Suspecting that these Freezards would not be vulnerable to sword strikes, he quickly took out his Ball and Chain so that he could deal with them at medium range, hoping to stay out of range of their frost breath attacks. Focusing in on the nearest of the Freezards, he sent the spiked ball its way, the ball striking the icy creature and shattering it into five Mini Freezards before it could get in range to use its icy breath. He then repeated the process with the other two Freezards, staying out of range of their attacks and dispatching them with the Ball and Chain. Once the Freezards were shattered, focused on the Mini Freezards and shattered them with another hurling of the Ball and Chain. After dealing with the Mini Freezards, the door to the forty-eighth chamber opened. Wasting no time, he made his way down the stairwell and proceeded to enter the next chamber, knowing that this was the next to last chamber in the dungeon.

When he entered the forty-eighth chamber, he found himself facing down two Dinolfos. Wanting to deal with them quickly, Link drew out his bow and arrow and he fired arrow after arrow into the bipedal dinosaur-like enemies just as they noticed him and began to charge towards him. After the first arrows, their charges came to a halt as they fell to the floor, arrows protruding from their chests. With the two Dinolfos having been beaten, the way to the forty-ninth chamber opened for Link. Link quickly took the stairwell down to the next chamber.

When he stepped out into the chamber, he was standing on a ledge that overlooked the rest of the chamber. Standing in the chamber were two large ornate suits of armor, along with four Darknuts. Link's eyes went wide with surprise. Given the fact that he had been facing such minimal resistance up to this point, it was surprising that there would be so many strong enemies assembled here just to face him. Still, he knew that he had to defeat them in order to progress, so he began to plan his attack, wanting to be careful of hitting the large suits of armor standing at the other end of the room, for he felt as if they were not merely there for decoration.

"Link, will you need my help for this?" he heard Midna ask him from the shadows.

Link studied how the Darknuts were arrayed and a plan was forming in his head. He shook his head, saying, "No, not at this point. I should be fine here. You should remain in my shadow until the fiftieth chamber. That's going to be the tough one."

Link could feel Midna's nod as he went to work preparing to deal with the Darknuts. The last thing he wanted to do was to engage four Darknuts in a swordfight in the chamber, so the more he was able to defeat while remaining on the ledge, the better. The first thing he did was to get out some arrows and bombs and tie the bombs to the arrows. He wanted to have a supply of Bomb Arrows on hand for dealing with the Darknuts.

Once he had gotten his Bomb Arrows ready, he took out several bombs and placed them at his side. Waiting for as many Darknuts as possible to be stationed underneath the ledge as possible, he peered over it, seeing two Darknuts hovering near the ledge, with the other two being stationed not too far away. He then lit the fuse of the first bomb and dropped it into the ranks of the first series of Darknuts. The bomb happened to strike one of the Darknuts on the helmet and it exploded, blowing off pieces of the Darknut's armor and inflicting significant damage to it. The Darknut's companion also suffered damage, a few burnt pieces of armor falling off of it, but it had not suffered nearly the same amount of damage as the first one had. The other two Darknuts turned to face the sound of the explosion and saw two bombs falling from the ledge onto the Darknuts below. They issued a warning but the warning came too late as two more explosions rang out around the chamber. More pieces of armor were blown off of the Darknuts, with the first one losing all of its armor.

The moment the first Darknut lost its armor, it immediately tossed its sword up towards the ledge, the sword sticking into the ledge's underside but not managing to piece far enough up to be a threat to Link. The Darknut then drew out a smaller long sword and searched for the hero, only to see a Bomb Arrow coming at it too late for it to do anything. The Bomb Arrow struck the Darknut in the chest and detonated, destroying the soldier. Link then tossed another bomb at the second Darknut, the bomb striking it and blowing off the rest of its armor. Before the second Darknut could even think to draw its smaller sword, Link fired off a Bomb Arrow and destroyed it just as it was about to toss its larger sword at the hero. That left only two Darknuts and the armored suits in the corner to deal with.

The hero soon focused his attention on the final two Darknuts, who were not going anywhere close to the ledge, rightfully fearing that the hero would simply hurl bombs at them. Instead, they remained at the other end of the arena, staring up at the hero, trying to goad him into coming down onto their level.

"Don't do it, Link," Midna warned. "I'm sensing magic emanating from those two armored suits in the corner. They'll almost certainly activate them if we go down there."

"They won't dare come to me and leave themselves vulnerable to my bombs," Link answered.

"Then simply draw them away from the suits and deal with them then. If we're lucky, they may be cocky enough to think that they can beat you two on one."

Link considered the Twili's idea and found that it had merit. Still, he did not like the prospect of facing down two Darknuts in battle, even though he had managed to do so before. Still, he knew that he could defeat them so he simply waited for the Darknuts to come to him. After a few minutes of waiting, the patience of the Darknuts wore too thin and they began to move cautiously towards the hero. Link waited up on the ledge for them to move to the center of the room before readying a Bomb Arrow. As the Darknuts moved towards him, they held their shields up in order to intercept any of his long range attacks. Link knew from previous experience that using Bomb Arrows and other explosives could be effective but he would either have to get lucky, or strike at their feet if he wanted to inflict any damage since their shields could absorb the explosions.

Eventually, the Darknuts arrived at the center of the room, prompting Link to ready one of his Bomb Arrows. The two soldiers were close to one another so a Bomb Arrows that struck between them would likely be able to inflict damage to both soldiers. Link quickly ducked back behind the ledge's short wall and notched a Bomb Arrow to his bow. He emerged and fired the arrow down among the Darknuts. The soldiers reflexively raised their shields to intercept the attack, but they did not count on Link firing between the two of them. The Bomb Arrow struck the ground between the two knights and exploded. The explosions blew off pieces of armor and inflicted minor damage to the knights. The armored knights backed away a bit and quickly tried to retreat back to the other end of the room. Link simply fired another Bomb Arrow at them and it struck one of the Darknuts in the back, exploding. The detonation blew more pieces of armor off, as well as inflicting some armor damage to the second Darknut, and sent the soldier staggering a bit. Link quickly followed with another Bomb Arrow, which struck the other Darknut in the back, blowing off the Darknut's armor.

With the second Darknut's armor having been blown off, the soldier quickly raised its sword and charged towards Link in an effort to hurl it at the hero, hoping to kill the hero with one blow. The other Darknut, who was dragging its remaining armor, shed its armor and tried to stop its foolhardy companion. Link took this opportunity to fire another Bomb Arrow towards the Darknuts. The first Darknut saw the Bomb Arrow coming and quickly jumped away, issuing a cry of warning. The second Darknut was too slow on the uptake, still trying to get into range in order to hurl its sword at Link, to heed the warning and its end came swiftly as it was blown apart by the bomb's explosion.

The other Darknut, however, was not so easily defeated. It quickly rushed away from Link and waited near a corner, forcing the hero to jump down into the arena in order to face it. Link did just as the Darknut hoped and jumped down into the arena in order to face it. When he landed, the Darknut drew his smaller sword and charged towards the hero. Knowing that the Darknut was too agile to be hit by arrows at this point in time, Link responded by drawing the Master Sword and performing a Back Slice on the Darknut. He dove to his side and rolled as he spun around to the Darknut's rear and then came up from his crouch, spinning and holding out his blade. The sword bit into the Darknut's armor and inflicted damage to the soldier, causing it to stagger forward. However, the soldier was not beaten yet. The Darknut quickly turned around and stabbed at the hero. Link performed a Shield Attack and thrust his shield forward, deflecting the attack and knocking the Darknut off balance. Link took advantage of this and performed a Jump Attack, inflicting even more damage to the Darknut as the Master Sword bit into the Darknut's armor and whatever was underneath of it. The attack knocked the Darknut to the ground, prompting Link to jump into the air and thrust downward, performing an Ending Blow. The sword bit into the Darknut's chest and it gave a cry before it went limp and the hero withdrew the blade. The Darknut then exploded into what looked to be orange light and woodchips.

With the Darknuts finally being defeated, Link turned to see if the exit to the chamber had opened. It had not, meaning that there were still enemies in the chamber that had to be dealt with. Seeing nothing save for the two suits of armor standing in the corner, he suspected that the suits of armor were the enemies that he still had to deal with. The suits, however, appeared to be armed with large battle axes, though, so the last thing Link wanted to do was engage them in close combat. Before activating them, he quickly took out the bomb bag that had the Bombchus inside. He then carefully positioned himself at the other end of the room a long distance away from the suits of armor, but not so long that the Bombchus would detonate prematurely, assuming their fuses were short enough to do so in the first place. He then took careful aim at the suits of armor and placed a Bombchu on the ground. He then let it go and skitter right at the suit of armor. He then repeated the process again, and again, and again.

The first Bombchu quickly reached the two suits of armor and exploded. Immediately upon exploding, Link heard a loud series of clashes and the suits quickly rose and began to march towards him very slowly, the suits' heavy armor slowing them down. Soon, the next Bombchu reached the Iron Knuckles and detonated, inflicting damage to the suits of armor. Then came the next, and the one after. As the rest of the Bombchus were striking the Iron Knuckles and detonating, Link kept laying down Bombchu after Bombchu, hoping that he would destroy them before they reached him and he would have to engage them in close combat. He did not like the idea of using up so much of his arsenal against these suits of armor, but he figured that it would be better to not risk taking any damage or the Iron Knuckles getting a lucky hit on him than to engage them in close combat, where either of those bad scenarios could very well happen.

After several detonations, pieces of armor fell from the Iron Knuckles and their slow march towards Link picked up in speed. They began to jog slowly towards the hero as they waded through explosion after explosion of Bombchus as the mouse-shaped bombs skittered towards them. The Iron Knuckles made no attempt to maneuver around the bombs at all. They just waded through them until they either reached Link, or were destroyed. Unfortunately for the Iron Knuckles, it was latter, for as soon as they were within a few steps of being within axe range of the hero, the final Bombchu he had placed on the ground hit them and they fell forward, giving off deep cries of anger as they erupted into magical flames. After a few seconds, the suits of armor were consumed by the flames and a chime sounded, indicating that the way to the fiftieth floor, and the Great Fairy's Chamber, was finally open. Wasting no time, Link quickly made his way to the door and went on through.

As Link made his way down the stairwell, he had an increasingly uneasy feeling come over him. He was expecting to come to a Great Fairy fountain in the next chamber, but the stairwell simply dragged on farther and farther down and seemed to dim quite a bit as there were no torches along the steps as he went further down the stairs. Eventually, he found a light in the distance, indicating the bottom floor of the cave. As he neared the light, though, his sense of unease began to grow. Still, it was not enough for him to retreat. If there was something bad down here, he would face it, just as he had so many times before with so many other enemies.

Eventually, he arrived at his destination and saw that the doorway leading into the fiftieth chamber was lined by two torches that had blood red flames lighting them. The sense of dread that had come over Link was magnified greatly as soon as he saw the flames on the torches. As he stepped into the chamber, it became even worse.

As he stepped into the chamber, he drew his sword and held it in his hand, scanning the chamber. The chamber looked to be normal, or as normal as a chamber housing a Great Fairy fountain could be. There looked to be glowing lights on the walls and as he stepped out onto the floor, he felt the sloshing of water on his boots. He quickly saw a small path made out of tiles leading to the fairy fountain in the center of the chamber. He stepped onto the tile path and followed it to the fountain. When he reached the fountain, he stopped and stared at it, quickly noticing that there were no fairies in the fountain.

"I don't like this, Link," Midna warned. "Something's wrong here."

Link nodded in agreement. This was clearly a fairy fountain but there were no fairies.

"So, it looks like we have a guest," Link heard a deep voice proclaim from a corner of the room that looked to be shrouded in shadow. He turned to the source of the sound and saw a shadowy figure approaching him. The figure quickly stepped into the light and showed himself to be a burly Hylian man that was completely bare-chested. His arms, chest, and head looked to be shaved and he had what looked to be red war paint on his face. While the man was bald, he looked to be middle aged. He had a sword slung over his back along with what looked to be a rifle. Link also saw a belt over his chest of what looked to be smaller bombs.

"It certainly appears to be so," Link heard a feminine voice answer the man's. Soon, he saw what at first looked to be a Hylian woman, if that, step out from behind the man and size up Link, giving him a sensuous smile. She looked to be in her late teens to early twenties at the oldest, wore a red bikini top with a red skirt. She had red hair and red eyes that matched the color of the flames on the torches at the room's entrance. It was obvious to Link that this woman was evil, and that she had a great deal of magical power. She took one look at the hero and laughed derisively. "I know all about you, hero," she said with an evil grin. "I am the Great Fairy of, well, Great Fairies. It's all me now that Hyrule is flooded and only a few areas aren't underwater. Times sure have changed."

"That they have, babe," the man said.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce my companion, or partner," she said with an evil grin, motioning towards the man standing next to her. "This is Grootos. He is a bounty hunter, pirate, thief, so-called god of some ancient, now extinct, race, and all around scoundrel. You'll hate him."

"And this Great Fairy is hot and powerful," Grootos said, eying the Great Fairy in a perverse fashion. "She made all of my weaponry and fashioned a number of incredibly powerful spells for me. I just may share some with you, for a price." Grootos then studied Link appraisingly and said, "Hey, I've seen your likeness before. You're that hero, aren't you?"

Link did not deny it.

"You are!" Grootos exclaimed. "Well, you're quite famous around here now. You've got a huge, and I do mean HUGE, bounty on your head. They'll give three million Rupees to whoever brings you in dead or alive, preferably dead and desecrated."

The Great Fairy laughed. "So you're the hero who made fools of the Knights of Hyrule and managed to kill Prince Daphnes. I must say that you have an impressive résumé. However, your quest will end here. We'll kill you and collect the bounty reward. And the three million Rupees is only the beginning. Soon, we'll have all of the fairies of Hyrule under our control, as well as be close advisors to the king."

Link scowled and he held out his sword, saying nothing. The Great Fairy and Grootos simply laughed. "Defiant to the end, eh?" the Great Fairy said mockingly. "It doesn't matter. It's two on one, and we're both magicians. We've studied up on the so-called Hero of Twilight, as you're being called."

"We know that while you're a skilled swordsman and have a powerful arsenal, much of which you used up in your trek down to this floor, you have no magic to speak of," Grootos finished. "I, on the other hand…"

He then gripped his blades and launched them towards Link. The blade looked to be chained to his arms and also had a field of magic surrounding the edge. Link raised his Hylian Shield and thrust it forward to deflect the blades away. The blades quickly returned to Grootos's hands while the Great Fairy extended her hands and fired a blast of scarlet magic at Link. Link quickly dove to his left and managed to avoid the scarlet magical blast as it sailed past him and struck the wall at the other end of the room.

As soon as he had avoided the Great Fairy's magical attack, Grootos raised both of his hands into the air. "Hey hero, guess what!" the bounty hunter called. "I've got magic spells too!"

The moment he said this, stones formed just below the chamber's ceiling and fell towards Link, forcing the hero to dodge the falling debris. In addition, the floor shook as the stones crashed down onto it, but Grootos had no problems walking along it. As Link continued to dodge the falling rocks, both the Great Fairy and Grootos charged towards Link, Grootos unleashing his blades upon the hero while the Great Fairy fired off another magical blast. However, before the attacks could arrive at the hero, Midna partially emerged from Link's shadow and unleashed a magical blast of her own. Her Twilight magical blast intercepted the attacks of the Great Fairy and Grootos and sent them back at the villains, along with Midna's own magical wave. The Great Fairy and Grootos recoiled with shock as they formed shields over themselves in order to protect themselves from Midna's Twilight Wave. The attack pushed them back and also ended Grootos's spell. The spell also collapsed their shield, too, which disturbed Grootos. The Great Fairy, however, merely smirked.

"So it seems as if you do have magic," she stated plainly.

"But how?" Grootos asked, perplexed. "All reports indicate that he's half human! His human half prevents him from using Hylian magic!"

"But he does not fight alone," came Midna's voice as she fully emerged from Link's shadow and stood beside the hero. "Now it's an even fight."

The Great Fairy and Grootos stared at Midna, dumbfounded. "What the…where did she come from?" Grootos stammered.

"I'm a Great Fairy!" the Great Fairy roared. "How could I not sense you?"

Midna gave no answer. She merely looked at Link, with the hero facing her. "The so-called Great Fairy belongs to me," she said in a dark tone.

Link nodded.

"Fine with me," the Great Fairy answered. "And you'll definitely see why I'm referred to as a Great Fairy."

The Great Fairy then charged Midna, who merely disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the room. She did not launch an attack, concerned about the possibility of the Great Fairy redirecting it towards Link, so she merely waited for the Great Fairy to teleport to her and start their fight, which the Great Fairy promptly did.

Meanwhile, Grootos focused his gaze on Link and commented, "Guess it's just you and me now." The bounty hunter grinned sadistically.

Link, on the other hand, merely gripped the Master Sword tightly in his hand and raised his shield. "That's a good looking sword," the bounty hunter quipped, noticing the craftsmanship of the blade. "I wonder how much it'll fetch at auction."

Link gave no answer, simply waiting for Grootos to make his move. Grootos did so and raised his hands over his head. Immediately a blue ball of light formed over his head, which quickly expanded into a blue crystal that encompassed his body. "How do you like this?" Grootos asked. "I've got Nayru's Love to protect me for a while. Let's see you beat me now."

Link quickly backed away and drew out a Bomb Arrow as Grootos began a charge towards him. He notching the arrow to his bowstring, he pulled back on the string and let fly with the Bomb Arrow, not aiming for the bounty hunter's body, but at his feet. The Bomb Arrow struck at the bounty hunter's feet and detonated. The Nayru's Love shield prevented any of the concussive force, flame, or shrapnel from striking Grootos's body, but it did not keep the force of the explosion from hurling the bounty hunter through the air. Grootos sailed through the air and landed a few feet away, the shield absorbing the impact, but the sudden acceleration and stop still shook him up a bit and he was dazed. This was not expected. Looking back at the hero, he noticed Link readying another Bomb Arrow and firing it right at his feet again. The Bomb Arrow detonated and sent him sailing through the air once more. He landed a few feet away and hit the ground, eventually skidding to a halt, the shield absorbing most of the damage.

Grootos quickly realized that while Link did not have any magic, he must have had some magical equipment, for his pockets seemed to be bottomless. He quickly rose and drew his blades, charging towards the hero. Once he was within range of Link, he hurled his swords at the hero, prompting Link to dance around them. Whipping their chains, he tried to cut Link to pieces, only for the hero to duck the blades. Once the blades returned to Grootos, he charged the hero once more, hoping to have a better shot in close combat. Link backed away and tossed a bomb at the bounty hunter, only for Grootos to adjust his course and let the bomb hit the ground and roll along it, the water putting out the fuse.

Soon, the bounty hunter arrived at Link and began hacking away at the hero. Link, however, had his defenses up and either blocked, parried, or avoided all of Grootos's attacks. He launched no counterattacks, though, for he knew that he would not be able to breach a Nayru's Love barrier. However, he also knew that Nayru's Love would not last forever. Eventually, it would fall, and he would be there to take down Grootos when it did. Grootos, however, did not give up and he quickly retreated and took out a small ball that Link was certain was a bomb of some sort. Grootos tossed it towards Link, who quickly fled form the device. It struck the water and remained in its position as Link fled. After a few seconds, there was a large explosion about the size of that of a powder keg. Fortunately, Link was far enough away from the blast to not be harmed.

After the explosion, Grootos's Nayru's Love shield fell. Link quickly saw that and drew an arrow from his quiver, notching it to his bow. He took aim at the bounty hunter as he charged towards the hero. He then pulled back on his string and let fly with the arrow, hoping that his aim would be true. It was and the arrow struck Grootos in the chest, the arrow protruding from his chest. The strike slowed Grootos's charge but, surprisingly, it was not enough to fell Grootos and the mercenary kept on coming. Link fired another arrow at Grootos and scored another direct hit but again, it was not enough to kill him, which was surprising since both arrows struck him in the center of his chest and they must have either pierced the heart or a lung, if not both lungs. Grootos responded by holding his hand forward and unleashing a stream of fire towards Link. Link danced away from the fire but the mercenary swept the flames towards the hero. The hero quickly drew out his Mirror Shield and raised it to intercept the flames and send them right back at Grootos. The flames washed over Grootos and he immediately caught fire and began to burn. However, his body was not being consumed by the flames and while he gave a cry of pain, he was still able to move. Spinning on one foot, he was quickly able to extinguish the flames and face the hero once more.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill me," Grootos proclaimed. "When I became a, how shall we say, partner of the Great Fairy, she gave me several Heart Containers. I know that that's how you have survived so many of your own adventures. Now, you're havin' it used against you. It'll take a lot to kill me. And even if you last long against me, there's always the Great Fairy to deal with. Once she kills that Dark Woman witch, you'll be next, assuming, there's anything left for her to kill. But that won't matter since you're not gonna last the next two seconds."

With that, Grootos disappeared from Link's sight and reappeared right behind him, and right into a rearward stab of the Master Sword. The moment he reappeared, the Master Sword bit into his flesh just as he was about to cut Link to ribbons with his blades. He suddenly stopped, a look of shock and pain crossing his face. A sharp pain came from his stomach, right where the sword had bitten into his flesh, but it was also spreading. Feeling the life slipping from him, he looked down at the sword Link withdrew it from his stomach. The wound did not bleed but he could see a magical light emanating from it. He also felt the pain spreading to his extremities.

"Damn," he muttered. "I can't believe it. I can't die like this. How can a mere sword do this to me…unless." Realization then came to him. "It's the Blade of Evil's Bane." Those were his last words as Link withdrew his sword and with a single motion, severed Grootos's head from his body. The head fell from the body and the body fell to the floor like a wet noodle. Once Grootos was beaten, he then searched the area for Midna to help her in her battle against the Great Fairy, assuming she needed any help at all.

While Link had been fighting Grootos, the Great Fairy had had her hands full fighting the former Twilight Queen. The Great Fairy had unleashed several magical blasts on Midna, only to either have them dodged or reflected right back at her. The Great Fairy recoiled at taking one of her blasts and backed off a bit, studying Midna, who was not coming anywhere close to breaking a sweat.

"What's the matter?" Midna asked scornfully. "A few moments ago, you were so confident that you were going to win."

"You're no match for me, witch!" the Great Fairy retorted. "You haven't seen me at anywhere close to my full power yet!"

With that, the Great Fairy held her hands over her head and a massive ball of pulsing emerald green energy formed. "Try surviving this!" the Great Fairy roared as she threw her hands down and propelled the ball towards the Twili Queen. Midna grimaced and raised her hands, erecting a shield of light over her body. She levitated herself into the air so that the ball of energy would not make contact with the ground. In a few moments, the ball struck her shield and it emitted a bright flash of light that would have blinded any mortal that had been looking right at it. The Great Fairy, however, used her own magic to protect her eyesight, as did Midna, and they were unaffected by the flash. The ball of light pushed against the shield and it flared as it strained to hold back the massive ball of magic. Still, Midna did not give an inch and her shield held as the ball began to shrink in size as it attempted to breach the Twili's shield. Much to the Great Fairy's annoyance, though, the shield held and the ball shrank until it dissipated, the shield absorbing and radiating the magical energy away from Midna.

The Great Fairy was nowhere close to being beaten yet, though. Despite her spell not breaching the Twilight Queen's shield, she knew that the shield had to have been weakened. As such, she quickly pointed two fingers at the Twilight Queen and unleashed a lance of dark magic Midna's way. The lance struck the shield, causing it to flare once more, but the focus of the massive energy behind the lance caused the shield to strain and cracks were beginning to form around the point of impact. The Great Fairy grinned as she saw the shield crack and her lance begin to pierce the shield. After a few more seconds of the lancing inching through the shield, the shield shattered and the lance seemingly pierced Midna right through the heart. However, before it could strike the Twili Queen, she disappeared in a puff of Twilight particles. She did so in such a way, though, that the Great Fairy believed her to have been killed by the lance.

"Well, that's one minor annoyance taken care of," the Great Fairy arrogantly quipped.

She then searched for Link and Grootos so she could help her partner kill the hero and finish off the other half of the heroic team when she was blindsided by a beam of light that struck her squarely in the back. The beam of light burned through her back and pierced her skin causing her to cry out and fall from the air, smoke trailing the wound. She crashed to the ground with a thud and pain shot through her body as she felt the light beginning to eat away at her. She rolled over, which engulfed her body in new waves of agony and looked up, seeing the Twilight Queen hovering above her.

"But how? I killed you!"

"I escaped," Midna answered.

The Great Fairy looked up at Midna with fear, for she knew that the Twilight Queen was still fresh while she was in dire straights. She attempted to use a healing spell to restore her health only to find that she was no longer able to focus her magical power.

"Damn," she cursed. "That spell is disrupting my ability to use magic."

She seethed as she realized that she had underestimated Midna and was now paying the price for it. The problem for her was that this realization came too late to do any good. Midna was not going to take any chances in dealing with the Great Fairy and extended her hand once more and fired another beam of magical light down at her enemy. The beam struck the Great Fairy and pierced her body. Immediately, cracks of light began to expand from the initial wound until they spread throughout the Great Fairy's entire body. After a few seconds, the Great Fairy erupted into an unnatural red flame. The body continued to burn until it was consumed entirely by the flames. Once the body was gone, Midna gave a satisfied smile and lowered herself to the ground, touching down softly. "And I didn't even have to use any of the powers of the Fused Shadows," she said appraisingly in satisfaction of her performance during the battle.

She then scanned the chamber for Link and saw him walking away from the decapitated body of Grootos. She went down to meet him and smiled. "It looks like you were able to handle Grootos easily enough."

Link gave her a half smile but still looked concerned. "This was easier than expected, especially given their boasting and the earlier warning," he said, his voice hiding none of his concern that there was another enemy for them to face.

The two then faced towards the center of the room where the Great Fairy Fountain was situated and proceeded to make their way towards it. As they did so, they noticed the water in the fountain shimmer and glow. After a few seconds, several pink balls of light with translucent wings emerged from the pool and floated above the fountain. They were immediately recognized as the normal fairies that Link was familiar with. Following the fairies was a woman that strongly resembled the Great Fairy that they had fought, only this one had long green hair, green eyes, and wore a white skirt with a white sleeveless top. She rose from the water and looked around. As she did so, a sad look crossed her face. "So it is finished," she said in a melancholy tone.

"What is finished?" Link asked.

"The reign of my cousin, the second Great Fairy of Magic," came the woman's answer.

"Are you the Great Fairy of Magic?" Link asked.

The woman shook her head. "I am the Queen of the Fairies," she answered. "I am _the_ Great Fairy."

"How did your cousin rule this place? Where were you while we fought her?" Midna asked.

"I was imprisoned in the pool by my cousin and Prince Daphnes during the civil war a decade ago," the Great Fairy answered.

Link gave a scowl as he thought back to Daphnes and the rest of the Royal Family. He wondered how much damage could have been averted or even repaired had the Great Fairy still been around. As if sensing his question, the true Great Fairy answered, "There is little that I would have been able to do on my own. That is why Daphnes and my cousin were able to trap me in the pool beneath the Cave of Ordeals. However, now that I am out, there are a few things that I can do. I know that my sisters and other cousins did not obey the edicts of my evil cousin, so they will be able to help out any resistance movement that is moving against the Royal Family. As for you, though, the least I can do is create a warp point exclusively for you to return down here so you can refill any empty bottles with Great Fairy's Tears should you have need of them. In addition, though, I have these other gifts for you."

The Great Fairy raised her hands and three balls of light formed above her head: one red, one blue, and one green. Crystals then enveloped the balls of light, each crystal being the same color as the ball of light that it enveloped. The crystals were then levitated down to Link. "These are the magical spells Din's Fire, Farore's Wind, and Nayru's Love. Unlike most other versions of the spell, these spells are designed for use by non-magic users such as Humans and other races that cannot use such spells. Be warned, though, that these spells are only copies of the spells used by the Royal Family. They do not have all of the same abilities as the spells wielded by the fallen Link and Zelda. In addition, since they are designed for use by Humans, they also have a limited amount of energy inside of them. You can only use them a limited number of times before the energy inside is used up and the crystal disappears. Use them wisely, for once they are used up, they are gone, and I will not be able to create more spell crystals for you for at least a week, if not more. The most I may be able to do is refill a crystal, if needed, but that is questionable at best and I will only be able to do it a few times at most. I am barely able to send fairies to the remaining fairy springs around the country as is right now."

Link nodded, picking up each of the spells. Once he did so, the Great Fairy told him what each of the spells was and what they did. "The spell inside the orange crystal is Din's Fire. It will create a dome of fire surrounding you that will expand outwards for several meters. You can use this to light torches and burn enemies. However, don't use it against Keese, or you will simply turn them into Fire Keese. The variant used by the Royal Family can also shoot exploding fireballs at opponents from range. The blue crystal contains Nayru's Love. It creates an impenetrable barrier that can protect you from taking damage from any attack. However, the physical force of an attack can still send you flying, so be careful around any pits. The one used by the Royal Family can also reflect attacks back at the opponent and will protect them from the physical force of the attack as well. This spell also uses twice the amount of magic as the other spells, so it will only be able to be used half the number of times that the other spells can be used. The green crystal is Farore's Wind. This sets up a warp point when, if used again, can warp you back to that point. It is useful for creating warp points at the beginning of dungeons so if you find yourself lacking supplies, you can quickly exit a dungeon if you use the spell again so you can properly equip yourself for a second journey through. The variant used by the Royal Family also allows them to teleport anywhere they have been, as well as anywhere that they can see. It activates faster as well, being useful in combat."

"What about the Light Arrows?" Midna asked, noticing that they were nowhere to be found and the Great Fairy had made no mention of them. "We were sent here to retrieve them so we could destroy the Dark Sage's Barriers."

"I know of no Light Arrows down here," the Great Fairy answered, shaking her head. "And besides, the Light Arrows were last seen in the hands of Young Zelda. And those Light Arrows, while powerful, are not powerful enough to take down King Nohansen or even pierce the Dark Sage Barriers now that they have had their powers increased by the Triforce. Young Zelda used them against her uncle and they failed to have any noticeable effect on him. You would need the legendary Heaven's Light Arrows for that."

"Heaven's Light Arrows?" Link inquired, his curiosity piqued.

"Back during the War in the Heavens, there were several weapons that were used by the gods and spirits of Hylia to help fight the Magic Lords and their servants," the Great Fairy explained. "One such weapon was the Light Arrow. This Light Arrow, however, was different from any other Light Arrow that has been seen in use in the last millennium. It was powerful and instead of simply having the Power to Repel Evil, it was an outright Evil's Bane weapon just like your Master Sword."

Link's eyes went wide with surprise. The infusion of the Master Sword had required Heaven's Light, which came from outside of Hyrule. His eyes then flashed with realization. He knew where these new Light Arrows were located.

"We have to go to Ordona Province," he told Midna. "That's where the Heaven's Light Arrows are located."

"Are you sure?" Midna asked skeptically.

"Positive," Link answered. "Ordona is outside of Hyrule and when I followed Demise into the past, I came across some Heaven's Light that was being taken to the Temple of Time that had been retrieved from a location outside of Hyrule. Ordona was also the only Light Spirit to side with the Dark Interlopers, rightfully so, it has since been revealed. If nothing else, it's the best place to start."

"That will be difficult," the Great Fairy stated plainly to the two heroes. "A fleet of over one hundred ships of the line resided outside of Ordona Province. Each ship was escorted by at least two support ships, some of them having been troopships. They are now launching a full-scale assault on the province. They will also be doing their best to make sure that no one comes in to reinforce Ordona. It will make the way to Ordona dangerous, and that's before the prospect of Ordona viewing _you_ as an enemy, too. The people of Ordona Province know of the evil Link's actions and may confuse you for him.

"I know," Link stated knowingly. "But we have to do it. The power of the Light Arrows will be essential not only for destroying those barriers, but also fighting King Nohansen and the Royal Family."

"That's true," the Great Fairy admitted.

The Great Fairy then raised her hands and a green ball of energy formed in her hands. The ball then rose into the air and remained floating there, casting a green glow about the room.

"This is a warp point for your Farore's Wind," the Great Fairy explained. "It will take you back to your ship. This point won't be dispelled if you create one later and you can always warp back here safely to refill you're the magic of your spells or for some Great Fairy's Tears, though you can also get them at any Fairy Spring in the kingdom."

"Thank you," Link responded, bowing. Midna also gave a gracious bow.

He then put the spells away. Suddenly, it did not seem as if the trip down here was such a waste. Even though he hand not managed to find the Light Arrows, they had managed to get a number of other treasures. With these treasures, he would clearly be able to transverse the rest of the dungeons. Once he put the spells away, the Great Fairy told him, "You still have a long journey ahead, and I can tell that you wish to get going on said journey."

Link merely issued a sigh and waited for the Great Fairy to send them back to the entrance. The Great Fairy had watched the exchange, having to keep herself from laughing at the display. When Link and Midna indicated that they were ready to leave, she raised her hands above her head and the two suddenly felt themselves being whisked away. They saw themselves traveling through a tunnel of white light and after a few seconds, they found themselves back on their vessel. As soon as they took a few steps away from the warp point, they soon heard the Great Fairy's voice echo, "This warp point will allow you to return to my fountain whenever you need. In addition, if you use a Farore's Wind spell, you will be able to warp back to the last point you created, or back to my fountain without having to dispel another warp point, allowing you quick access to any help I can give you. Use the spell wisely, though, for I can only give a total of three refills for a normal spell."

Link gave a smile and nodded. Midna looked over at him and said, "I think that those spells will play an important role in the upcoming part of our quest, particularly that Din's Fire. We'll have to be careful and use the spells sparingly, though. The last thing we need is to burn through a vital spell in the middle of a dungeon."

Link nodded in agreement and made a note to only use the spells in cases where they were essential. He had enough items to deal with other enemies without having to resort to magic. After a few seconds he decided to get underway and leave the Gerudo Desert and make his way towards Ordona Province.

To that end, Link proceeded to make his way to the ship's bridge and plot a course for Ordona Province. In the meantime, Midna went over to the bed in order to rest. He suspected that she had not fully recovered her magical reserves from her battles against the Royal Family. As she rested, he opened the map on his console and set course for Ordona Province.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Link studied the map on the console in front of him in the bridge cabin as he guided the ship towards Ordona Province. He peered over every point of interest labeled on the map. There were small islands that seemed to house garrisons of troops. Some of the islands also seemed to house small bases and had their own small task forces defending them. The map labeled a task force as generally consisting of two to five ships. After a while, he realized that he had not heard much from Midna so he looked back to check on her. The then saw her sleeping on the bed, a smile etched on her face. He knew that it would take several hours for them to reach Ordona Province so he decided that they should take the opportunity to get some rest. He let Midna sleep undisturbed while he took the first shift. He would let her relieve him when she woke up.

While the ship was en route to Ordona, Link went below deck to take stock of the munitions onboard the ship. He had expended a lot of rockets and cannonballs for the main cannons and launcher during the fight at Zora's Domain, and even more of the shot canisters for the carronades.. In addition, he had expended more rockets in the sinking of the two frigates that they had encountered on the trip to the Desert Province. Chances were that they were running low on munitions and the last thing he wanted was to start having to use his own bombs as ammunition for the cannons, especially since he did not know when, or if, he would be able to buy more bombs in the future.

Opening the door to the gun deck, he went over to each cannon and first checked on its condition. So far, each cannon was still in working order. He then went over to the ammunition stores for each cannon. When he scanned them, his eyes went wide and he began to have a sinking feeling. He had expended more than three quarters of his rockets, and also four fifths of the cannonballs for his main cannons. He almost dreaded checking on the ammunition for the carronades. As he was taking stock of the ammunition stores, he suddenly began to realize something else. His buying of the extra cannons may, indeed, have been shortsighted, for he now realized that without Tetra, his cannons would not be able to fire synchronously. More importantly, he would have to personally load each and every cannon with powder and the shot that would be used. It would be a slow, tedious process, which would become deadly when going up against the Hyrulean fleet. He only hoped that Midna had some magic similar to Tetra's that would allow her to synchronize the cannons and allow them to fire simultaneously and quickly. He quickly realized that crossing into Ordona would be more perilous than he previously thought. He would be trying to run a blockade that had possibly one hundred or more ships of the line with who knew how many escorts with a ship that was designed to be crewed by around eight to a dozen given the armaments on the ship only being crewed by two people.

The last thing Link did on the gun deck was to check the powder magazine. When he checked it, he saw that it was running just as low as the rest of the ammunition onboard the ship as well. He gave a sigh as he made his way to the back door and entered the engine room to see just how much coal he had left. Sure enough, when he went back to check on the coal levels, he found that he was running low on fuel as well. Thinking back on his trip to Zora's Domain along with the trip back, he estimated that he would probably be able to make it to Ordona Province if he did not have to take a circuitous route, but if he had to take any detours, then it would be questionable as to whether or not he would make it to Ordona. Of course, even taking the most direct route to Ordona, he would not have enough fuel to make it back to the flooded Hyrule Castle Town, or even Kakariko Island. He would also need fuel if he wanted to continue his journey.

He went back to the command cabin to check on Midna, as well as the map to see if there were any fuel or munitions depots nearby. When he got inside, he saw that Midna was already up and studying the map at the command console. As he entered, she looked over at him and asked, "Where did you go off to?"

"I was checking our remaining ammunition stores and fuel level," Link answered.

"And how are we doing?"

"We're running low on fuel and ammunition. We'll have to stop at a supply depot if we want to make it to Ordona Province and not be stranded there."

"Do you know where any supply depots may be located?"

Link shook his head. Midna gave no reaction. "We could always head back to Kakariko Island to get some additional supplies there. I still have a few Platinum Rupees that Tetra gave me, but that's incredibly risky. My likeness will almost certainly be on every 'Wanted' poster in the kingdom and chances are that without Hyrule Castle Island, that Kakariko Island will probably be the new official seat of power for the time being."

"That _would_ be a problem," the Twilight Queen commented. She then looked at the map and noticed several marks on it that represented points of interest. Studying some of them, she found that they mostly represented small bases and garrisons, likely replacement crew for ships so that any ship that suffers damage or crew loss would not have to go all the way back to Kakariko Island or to the seat of power to replace crew losses. However, there was also the issue of ammunition stores and fuel as well, for more than a few ships in the Hyrulean Navy were now metal ships that used steam engines, which required flammable or combustible fuel sources.

"What about these small points of interest marked on the map?" Midna asked, pointing out the various points of interest on the map that were too small to be islands.

Link looked down at the map and considered Midna's suggestion. He then remembered back to Tetra pointing out some supply depots that were located on the sea for ships to refuel and resupply. "Tetra told me that they were fuel and supply depots for merchants and for the Hyrulean Navy," Link informed his companion. A knowing smile then crossed the lips of the two heroes. "And they could be just what we need to solve our problems."

Midna grinned as Link took the command chair and studied the map carefully, identifying the closest of the supply depots. They were in luck, for the closest of the supply depots was not very far away at all. It looked to actually be within only fifteen minutes. Link immediately adjusted his course in order to pilot the ship to the depot, Midna stepping out onto the main deck so she could help guide Link on his journey. Before stepping out, though, she created a small twilight portal so she could quickly reach Link and tell him when they were within sight of the depot.

During the fifteen minutes of sailing, Midna kept a close eye out for the depot, and not only the depot, but other Hyrulean ships as well. So far, though, there had been no other ships present in the vicinity, which surprised her a little. She did not know if they were traveling in any real shipping lanes, though, which could explain the lack of ships in the area, but she did have a feeling that much of the fleet was tied up elsewhere, which begged the question as to why pirates did not seem to be swarming over this supply depot, raiding it for supplies.

Eventually, Midna spotted what looked to be a large floating barge in the distance. That had to be the supply depot. She wasted no time stepping through her twilight portal and informing Link, "We're here. Adjust your course by ten degrees to the right."

Link nodded and did as Midna directed. He then looked out the bridge window and saw the barge. They both scanned their surroundings to see if there were any other ships in the vicinity but they found none. Seeing that the area was clear, they decided to go up to the barge and take as many supplies as possible. As the neared the barge, they noticed that it looked like a plain, metal ship, only without an engine. It also looked to be completely unarmed. It would have been a perfect hideout for pirates.

When they arrived at the barge, they found a docking port where they could board the barge. Siding the ship up to the docking port, they waited until there was a clank and a slight shudder. The heroes then stepped outside of their command cabin and onto the main deck. They quickly went over to extend the boarding ramp so they could board the barge. As they stepped out to board the barge, though, Midna's eyes flashed and she stopped, gripping Link's shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Link asked, looking back at her.

"There's someone onboard the barge," Midna answered. "And if I had to be this close to sense him or her, I'd guess that it is some sort of magician."

Link immediately prepared his Mirror Shield and drew his Master Sword. While he hoped that the magician onboard was not hostile, he had the feeling that the opposite was true.

Link was the first one to board the barge, itself. The first thing that he noticed was that it was dark. There was no torchlight to speak of, nor any other source of light save for what managed to leak through from the open door. The moment he set foot onto the barge, he was immediately accosted by two streams of fire that lashed out at him. Reflexively raising his Mirror Shield, he managed to intercept both streams and send them right back at the magicians. As he did so, he could see that the magicians were wearing robes that did not immediately indicate their affiliation. Perhaps there was hope that these were not necessarily enemies. Either way, these magicians must have been very skilled with fire, though, for they were not at all shocked to see their own attacks being reflected back at them. They merely waved their arms in a circular motion and the gathered the flames into their own spheres of influence, the flames morphing into the shape of dragons.

"Hold on, we're non-hostile!" Link called out. "We're simply here for resupply!"

"Yeah right," came the response from one of the magicians. "We know all about you. You killed Prince Daphnes and Princess Tetra. Princess Zelda and Link have put out a capture or kill order on you. Guess which one we'll be doing."

"So you affiliated with Hyrule," Link stated.

"We're elite magicians, if you couldn't tell by our fancy robes," the second magician retorted mockingly.

That was all Link needed to ready his full arsenal of weaponry to fight them and take them down. However, he would not need to fight at all, for a series of black energy lances lashed out from behind him and streaked towards the magicians. They were caught completely off guard by the attack and mounted no defense before being skewered by the lances. As if to add even more injury to their current injuries, the dark magic lances exploded as if they had been magic bombs, annihilating the magicians. Link looked back and saw Midna standing behind him.

"We can't waste time here," she stated coldly. But Link could see a clear difference in Midna's expression. She did not like having to kill the magicians, she just knew its necessity. And also, she did not make any quips about how easy it was to kill them. "Let's get what we can and get out before the Hyrulean Navy comes to investigate."

Link nodded and the two quickly went to work scouring the barge for all of the supplies they would need. They followed a short hallway to a door that was labeled _Cargo Hold_. Midna stepped forward and went to open the door, wanting to be the one to draw any enemy ambushes since her magic gave her an advantage if it came to a fight. Once she had opened it and, extending her sense and sensing no one inside the hold, or anywhere else on the barge for that matter, she went inside, followed closely by Link.

When they entered the hold, their eyes went wide with shock and delight, for they were standing in a veritable treasure trove of materiel. There were boxes labeled _Coal_, _Powder_, and _Shot_. In addition, there were several boxes that looked to contain rockets as well. They soon saw that it got even better, for there were also bundles of arrows and boxes of bombs spread throughout the hold. This hold had everything they needed for their quest, and likely more. It would take a while for them to move the boxes by hand, but Midna had other ideas. She quickly created a small twilight portal and stepped through it, disappearing from the room.

After a few moments, stepped back through the portal and told Link, "I've set up a portal so we can transport all of the supplies to the ship quickly and efficiently. The only limit will be our ship's ability to hold them," saying the last part with a grin.

Link echoed Midna's feelings. Their fuel problems would be a thing of the past and they would now have more than enough munitions for breaching the Hyrulean fleet assaulting Ordona Province. Link kept watch as Midna created a large twilight portal with which to transport the supplies back to the ship.

Midna spent the next fifteen minutes transporting all of the fuel, powder, and ammunition that the ship could hold to the ship. They could organize everything once they got back. While Midna transported the supplies back to the ship, Link took the initiative to go up to the main deck of the barge and check to see if he could see any Hyrulean ships on the horizon, putting on his Hawkeye to assist him in the process. So far, though, there were no ships coming towards the barge.

After fifteen minutes, Midna took stock of the ship and how it was handling the extra weight. It seemed to be doing okay, but she could feel that it was reaching its limit. She decided that the next run would be the last. She identified the fuel, powder, and munitions boxes that would be needed for the ship and spread out her arms as she levitated them through the portal. After the last set of supplies had made its way through the portal, she closed the portal, along with her smaller portal, and teleported up to the barge's main deck.

When she arrived, she saw Link scanning the horizon all around the ship. She quietly went up to him and asked, "Anything?"

He shook his head. "I haven't seen a thing, not even a bird in the sky. Have you loaded everything onto the ship?"

Midna nodded. "I've loaded everything the ship can hold and still be seaworthy. We should be good to go for quite a while."

Link smiled. Now that they were fully supplied, they could get underway with their quest. They made their way back to their ship and once they were onboard, they promptly retracted the boarding ramp. As they did so, the fleeting thought of them destroying the barge crossed Midna's mind. It would deny the remaining supplies to Hyrule or any pirate forces. However, she also realized that they may have need of more supplies later on as well, so they decided to keep it intact. The last thing they wanted was to destroy a supply station that was useful to them, and if there had been no spies reporting on their appearance, then they would likely be able to get away without Hyrule either tracking them, or realizing that they now had adequate supplies to continue their quest.

Once they boarded their ship, Link promptly returned to the bridge and went to the command console. Turning the key in the ignition, he started the ship. Once the engine was up and running, he spun the wheel, turning the ship until it was facing the direction of Ordona Province. Once he and Midna were ready, he set the throttle to full and got underway on their trek.

During their trek to Ordona, Link and Midna took the time to organize the supplies they had taken from the barge. Link carefully placed the barrels of gunpowder near the powder magazine while he made certain that each cannon had a box of cannonballs close by. He also made certain that the boxes with the munitions for the carronades were close to the small cannons as well, wanting to be able to reload them in a timely fashion. Last but not least, he made certain to set apart the boxes with the bombs for his bomb bags. Surprisingly, he found a box of Bomblings, which he used to refill his bag of Bomblings. He also took the opportunity to top off his other bomb bags, too. Once he was finished, he returned to the command cabin and went to take his turn to rest while Midna kept watch for her shift.

Sure enough, not too far into Midna's shift, her ability to synchronize the cannons and fire them with her magic was put to the test, for a wooden frigate appeared on the horizon. Despite retracting all of the heavy weapons, the frigate still laid in an intercept course for their small ship. Midna grunted as she had hoped to not have to use a lot of munitions taking down a frigate. As the frigate approached, she still hoped that she could negotiate her way out of the mess. Her hopes, however, were quickly shot when she saw a cloud of smoke erupt from one of the cannons along with a muzzle flash. There was a large splash just off to the starboard side of the ship. The frigate was firing at them without even having offered them a warning. Perhaps they had not escaped the barge unseen after all. It did not matter now, though. All that mattered was making sure that the frigate did not sink them out in the middle of the Great Sea.

To that end, Midna turned her ship so that her starboard broadside cannons could be brought to bear on the frigate's bow. The moment her ship was aligned, she quickly opened the gun ports with her magic and deployed the cannons. Once she had lined up the frigate in her sights, she opened fire just as another splash of water rocketed from the sea mere inches to the starboard side of the ship. The two cannons fired and unloaded their munitions into the bow of the frigate. One of the cannonballs scored a direct hit on the ship's bow right on the waterline, just as Midna had planned. The frigate began to list forward a little bit, but Midna knew that one hole would be insufficient to sink a ship like that. She then fired another volley at the frigate. This time, though, she had loaded some of the excess Water Bombs into the cannon, hoping to be able to inflict more damage on the ship's hull as well as hopefully igniting the frigate's powder magazine.

The next volley scored another direct hit on the frigate, this time, striking close to the waterline of the ship but not inflicting too much damage other than that. The frigate began to maneuver in order to bring its broadside guns to bear on the ship. Midna would have none of that, though, and she continued to fire Water Bombs at the frigate, this time aiming high so she could take out the bow cannons. Her aim was true and the bombs landed among the cannons and destroyed them, the flames from the bombs igniting the powder in the cannons and next to them, inflicting further damage to the bow gun deck. Midna grinned. She had the ship now. She then unleashed one last volley of Water Bombs into the hull as well as the hull breaches, of the frigate. The bombs arced through the air as the frigate's turn was almost complete. They impacted the frigate's side and inflicted more hull damage to the ship. This damage would prove to be fatal for the frigate, for it had suffered too much damage at the waterline in order to remain afloat. The ship began to list and Midna merely guided the ship away from the firing arc of the sinking frigate. As the frigate was sinking, the Twilight Queen saw several lifeboats descending into the water. She considered sinking them so that no one could report their location to the forces of Hyrule but she resisted. The frigate was too far out of range to see her and she had not sensed any strong magicians onboard the ship. As such, she decided to let the lifeboats flee their sinking ship, the few that managed to evacuate the ship, there were only four. As the boats were fleeing the frigate, she began to wonder if it would have been more cost effective to use a rocket and take the ship out with one hit. She shook her head at the notion. They still only had a limited number of rockets and she felt that they would need all of them for running the blockade besieging Ordona. Once the skirmish had ended, Midna continued on her course towards Ordona, hoping that the skirmish had not disturbed Link too much.

After a few hours, Link awakened from his sleep, rising quickly from the bed. Looking over at the command console, he saw Midna sitting at the controls, guiding the ship. She turned back to him and smiled.

"Finally awake," she quipped.

"Did anything happen while I was asleep?"

"A frigate came after us, but I was able to sink it," the former Twilight Queen answered.

"Were there any survivors?"

"A few lifeboats managed to drop before the frigate sank. I did not give chase. I doubt they were able to identify us, but we should be ready in case they did recognize us as something more than pirates or rebels."

Link was both concerned as well as relieved at her report. He was concerned about coming across a frigate in the middle of the ocean, but he was actually relieved when he heard that Midna had not gone after the survivors of the sinking, even if it would have been the pragmatic thing to do. He then got to the task at hand.

"We should only be a couple of hours away from Ordona. You should get some rest," he told her. "You'll have to be at full strength when we try to run whatever blockade that the Hyrulean Navy has set up."

"What about you?"

"I had good rest and I feel fine. I'll be okay."

Midna nodded and then went to rest for the remainder of the trip and to recharge her magic. She wanted to be at full strength for when they came up on the Hyrulean fleet.

A couple of hours later, Midna rose to find Link sitting at the command console. She went up to him and asked, "How far out are we?"

"We're almost there now," Link answered. "It should take us at most another fifteen minutes before we get into visual range of any blockade."

Midna nodded and departed the command cabin, stepping out onto the main deck. She extended her magical senses to try to find out how far away the fleet really was. After a bit, she managed to latch onto a set of minds, indicating the presence of the fleet. Sure enough, she judged that they were about ten to fifteen minutes away. She quickly went back in to the command cabin to report it to Link. He nodded and performed one final check to make sure that all of the weapons systems on the ship were functioning properly. Once he was certain that everything was working well, he simply waited and kept his eyes peeled while Midna returned to the main deck to be the spotter and to allow her to magically fire the ship's cannons in unison without the requirement of a large crew.

After the fifteen minutes had passed, both Midna and Link spied the first signs of the Hyrulean fleet on the horizon. Link quickly stepped away from the command console and went up to the upper deck of the bridge to look out with his Hawkeye. He spotted a number of ships off in the distance. Judging by their size, he guessed that they were either sloops of war or frigates. He took a deep breath and steeled himself against what was to come. For a moment he considered trying to circumnavigate Ordona Province on the off chance that he could possibly avoid the fleet, but he quickly nixed that idea when he considered the fact that Ordona Province had once been in the southernmost portion of the map bordering Hyrule and there was no knowledge of what provinces or lands may have been south of it. There was no telling how far the land may have extended, and if the lands south of Hyrule were not affected by the flood, then he would not be able to come to Ordona from the south and he would have to go through the fleet to get at Ordona anyway. As such, he simply gunned the throttle and made for the province. Still, he wanted to avoid conflict if at all possible.

He soon went outside and told Midna, "Retract the heavy cannons. We don't want to be shot before we even get close to Ordona Province. The longer we go without drawing attention to ourselves, the better."

Midna looked at Link questioningly. "Do you really think we'll be able to avoid conflict?" she asked skeptically.

Link shook his head. "No, but if we can get a ways through the battle lines before the Hyrulean Navy decides that we're a threat, or even merely an annoyance, it'll allow us to get that much closer to Ordona and increase our chances of survival that much more."

The former Twilight Queen considered Link's plan and found that there was some merit to it. They could deploy their weapons quickly enough of Hyrule started to take an undue interest in them and she could raise a shield over the ship anyway. And if by some miracle they managed to get through the blockade without having to fight, it would be that much better. She then carried out Link's suggestion and retracted the cannons, making sure that the only visible weapons were the carronades on the main deck.

As they got closer to the fleet, they could hear the sounds of cannon fire off in the distance. From this distance, it was merely sounded like a thump, but they knew that it would get louder the closer they got to the action. Several of the thumps seemed to sound louder than the others, so Link turned to Midna and asked, "Can you find out what's going on out there?"

Midna nodded and closed her eyes and extended her magical senses. When she opened them again, she was able to see much farther in the distance than a normal would have been able to. In the distance, she saw large blimp-like airships flying towards a shoreline off in the distance. She also spotted buoys and spires jutting out from the sea. Cannons were mounted on these spires but these cannons were not like other cannons. They were more like the rocket launcher on Link's ship, for they fired rockets both at the Hyrulean navy and the airships that were approaching. The rockets scored direct hits on a wooden man-of-war and a metal cruiser and managed to sink them, the man-of-war having its front side blown completely open and the cruiser taking a hit amidships. The hole blown into the ship must have inflicted secondary damage, for fire emerged from the hole and the ship began to list down into the water. It took a few minutes for it to sink completely, but sink it did.

Meanwhile, the airships fired volley after volley of cannon fire onto the cannon positions on top of the spires, but the cannons from the airships were inaccurate and for each shot that managed to hit close to an emplacement, many more missed their mark completely. And even with that, none of the cannons on top of the spires were destroyed. The return fire from those cannons, however, was far more devastating.

Directing their bores upwards, the cannons began to take shots at the airships. Their muzzles flashed as they opened fire and directed large clouds of metal pellets into the airships' air tanks. The heated pellets pierced the airships' skins and set the gas inside ablaze, causing the ships to catch fire and even explode, the frames falling out of the sky and into the water. Despite the losses, the Hyrulean navy continued to direct more fire towards the spires but they continued to have little success in destroying them and clearing a path towards the Ordona mainland.

Midna then turned her sight away from the fighting and worked ascertain the fleet numbers that Hyrule had amassed against Ordona. She counted at least a hundred ships of the line, each ship being flanked by at least two escort combat vessels and a support vessel, likely a supply vessel. There were also a number of large troopships in the middle of the fleet, protected by the might of the Hyrulean Navy. She suspected that they were hoping to make their way past the defense spires and be able to attack Ordona with impunity, but when she extended her sight a little farther, she found that Ordona's shoreline was lined with cannons just waiting for the Hyrulean Navy to come within range of them.

Midna then turned back to Link and made her report. "The fleet's attacking Ordona's defenses as we speak. Hyrule's making use of an airship of some sort. They've lost a wooden man-of-war and a metal cruiser so far, along with some airships, but the fleet is vast. I counted at least one hundred capital ships, each one being flanked by at least two escort combat vessels, oftentimes either a frigate or a sloop of war, with some of them being smaller metal ships."

"Then we'll have our work cut out for us," the hero concluded.

Midna nodded. They both knew that they were not fighting their way through a fleet like that and going to survive. Regardless of Hyrule's strength, they knew that the fleet was busy dealing with Ordona's defenses at the moment, which would actually give them a chance to make their way to the province and hopefully find a river or harbor where they could lay anchor and search for the Light Arrows. Then, without any further hesitation, Link returned to the cockpit and directed his ship towards the province.

After a few minutes of travel, Link came to the last lines of the Hyrulean fleet assaulting Ordona Province. Off in the distance, Link could see the airships that Midna had mentioned earlier. He saw the muzzle flashes of the cannons several seconds before the sound of the blasts reached his ears. He watched as the airship fleet fired on the spires off in the distance. Despite there being relatively few spires, no more than six that he could count in visible range, the airship fleet was concentrating its fire on the spires. He watched one volley of cannon fire smash into a spire and shatter a cannon emplacement, forcing the occupants to jump into the sea to avoid the rest of the fire. The other spires, however, avenged the loss of the cannon by firing on the airship, the airship, the cannonballs striking the airship in its air tanks and rupturing them, the flames that heated the gas in the tanks setting the tanks ablaze and becoming the death of the ship. The airship now turned crematorium fell out of the sky and crashed into the sea.

Two more airships followed as several occupants of the cannons fired rockets and explosive balls from handheld cannons. One of the airships was directly above a large metal cruiser when its air tanks had been punctured. The ship was immediately engulfed in flames and it fell out of the sky like a stone, and directly onto the main deck of the warship, crashing into a cannon battery, destroying the battery. The airship's munitions detonated upon impact and blew a massive hole into the cruiser, splitting the massive ship in half. The two halves quickly sank beneath the waves and Link continued to sail on by, neither the seafaring warships nor the airships taking heed of his seemingly harmless ship that barely qualified as such.

Link carefully made his way past the defense spires, the spires seemingly not paying his ship too much attention. After all, with his cannons retracted, his ship looked more like a merchant vessel than a miniature warship. Still, Midna extended her magical senses to the shoreline and she found that several Ordonian defenders were being reassigned to watch their ship on the off chance that it was there to deploy an elite fighting force. More importantly, she found that the troops on shore had more of those shoulder rocket launchers and that they were more than powerful enough to sink smaller ships and even cause some damage to larger ones as an unfortunate frigate on the front lines discovered as it attempted to send a series of long ships and row boats on shore to land troops. In addition, the frigate had a metal spider-like monstrosity on deck that was firing what looked to be energy blasts at the cannons on shore. The spider was not drawing a good bead on the defensive emplacements and its shots merely gouged a series of holes in the ground a safe distance from any cannons or personnel. The troops on the ground responded by unleashing several rockets at the frigate, two of them hitting the waterline and sinking the frigate, and another striking the spider-like machine, shattering it with one hit before the frigate sank. The other ships in the fleet remained out of range, though a few were still caught within range of the cannons on shore and were smashed by a withering amount of fire from the advanced weapons of the Ordonians. As for the rowboats and long ships, with the frigate having sunk, the troops switched to their rifles and quickly mowed down the troops on the smaller transport craft.

"Link, the Ordonians are repositioning some of their assets," the former Twilight Queen reported to Link. "We should keep our guns retracted and if they ask to board us, offer no resistance. They're powerful. Their technology is less advanced than that of the Twili, but not by as much as one would think at first glance."

Link nodded and he gave a hopeful smile. Things were going better than expected. If all went well, he would be able to land in Ordona Province without having to fight any Hyrulean ships and use up his valuable rocket armaments that would be essential in later parts of the mission. Midna then returned to scanning the island, or province, to search for a harbor or safe haven where they could anchor their ship so they could search the province for the Light Arrows.

As she continued her scan, she first extended her magical sight to see just how large the island, if it was, indeed an island, actually turned out to be. It turned out to be quite large, as despite Ordona having been south of Hyrule, there had been a number of uninhabited areas south even of Ordona Province and possibly some wild lands inhabited by large amounts of wildlife that had not seen the likes of Hylians or any other sentient on Hylia. The province was large enough that the Hyrulean fleet present would not have enough ships to blockade the entire area. Small, fast ships would easily be able to run the blockade if it came to evacuating the province.

Seeing that the landmass that Ordona Province was attached to was large, too large for them to circumnavigate quickly, she focused on finding small rivers or harbors where they could lay anchor in relative safety. She found a small river that led to a harbor relatively close by, something that greatly surprised her and was also cause for alarm. There was no way that the Hyrulean seers or airships would not have spotted the river and harbor. Sure enough, there was a line of long ships and even a troopship heading towards it. The reason why the rest of the fleet had not headed for that small opening soon became apparent when several explosions issued forth beneath the lead line of long ships and even the troopship, itself. The Ordonians were hoping for Hyrule to go through the small canal to land an assault force. The long ships and rowboats that struck mines were annihilated by the explosions. As for the troopship, it suffered a similar fate. The ship continued to move towards the island in order to give its troops a chance to at least swim to the island but even that was going to be difficult given the armor that the Knights of Hyrule and even their soldiers wore. Besides, there were snipers waiting in the woods and other defenses near the small harbor as well that would make any invasion obscenely costly. That appeared to be the reason why Hyrule was laying siege to the island and focusing on taking out the defensive spires. Focusing on the location of the harbor, she found that it quickly led to the trail that would take them to Ordon Spring and Ordon Village, itself. She continued to watch as the ship began to sink further and further into the water until it was completely submerged: three thousand lives being extinguished beneath the waves.

She grinned. Things could not be going better if she had planned them to the letter herself. Looking a bit further, she found that Hyrule had actually managed to land a small number of troops inside the village, likely from airships, but they were being met by Ordon's defense forces and were being annihilated by the superior Ordon troopers.

Midna retracted her sight and focused back on her immediate surroundings, making her next report to Link. "Link, I've found a harbor that leads into the province. Even better, it lets off near the trail that leads directly to Ordon Spring and Ordon Province, itself. There's little fighting going on in the province, itself. A few Hyrulean soldiers managed to land inside the province, likely by airship, but they're being dealt with. This is our lucky break. We may be able to get to Ordona without having to fight at all."

That was all Link needed to hear. The last thing he had wanted was to have to fight his way into Ordona. The prospect of managing to avoid fighting his way into the province was too good to pass up. Still, he felt a little apprehensive.

"Midna, keep your senses open for any ambush or traps," Link told her. "This seems almost too good to be true and I don't want to be lured into a trap."

Midna nodded. A part of her shared Link's apprehension, but another part of her, like him, saw the tremendous opportunity before them and she knew that they would not likely get another one. Link knew this too. As she extended her senses to make sure that they were not sailing directly into a trap, set either by Hyrule or inadvertently by Ordona, Link set the throttle to full as he guided the ship towards the small river that would lead them into Ordona.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Link guided his ship to the narrow river that led into Ordona Province, Midna keeping a close watch and doing her best to make sure that any suspicious airships and Kargaroks did not pay too much attention to their small ship. That would be easier said than done, though, for despite the armaments of the ship, the last thing she wanted was to display their armaments or use powerful magical attacks to bring down any stray airship or Kargarok. She decided that it would be best to let Ordona's defenses deal with them.

As they got closer to the province, both Link and Midna nervously awaited any response that the Ordonians may have given them. While he was safely on the bridge, guiding his ship, Midna was out in the open, easily visible to any scouts hiding in the trees that lined the riverbank and the shores merely a dozen yards away from the ocean. While neither he nor Midna really feared any potential misunderstandings with the Ordonians, they still did not want to have to explain themselves in the midst of a battle, for they knew that it would only be a matter of time before a long ship, rowboat, or even a troop carrier managed to pierce the defenses of Ordona and land troops. Once that happened, it would be a massive war effort on the ground, and the fall of Ordona would come not very long after, for while Ordona Province was clearly more advanced than the standard provinces of Hyrule, both Link and Midna knew that Hyrule was pulling out all the stops in dealing with Ordona Province.

It was not long before they reached the border between the river and the ocean, crossing into Ordona Province. The waters were rough near the border, though a few hundred yards in, they were much calmer. This did not have any effect on the small ship, though, which was capable of sailing through the roughest of ocean waters. As they entered the province, Link and Midna looked behind them to see if there were any pursuing ships. There were none. They then turned their attention back to guiding the ship up the river and to the harbor.

The trip up the river did not take very long at all. As they were traveling, though, Midna felt the eyes of many sentries upon her from above. She made certain not to make any hostile gestures in order to ensure that they were not mistaken as enemies. She also felt their suspicion that the ship could also be carrying evil Link, for their minds did nothing to hide their suspicion.

She then magically alerted Link, "It would be a good idea for you to remain inside the command cabin until we reach the shore. I have a feeling that these guys won't like you and would easily confuse you for the evil Link."

Link nodded and did as she suggested. The last thing he wanted was to be shot by the inhabitants of his own village, many of who were probably descendants of his friends.

Soon, the harbor was within sight. As it came into view, they saw that there were several small ships docked at the harbor. These ships appeared to be made out of wood but Link and Midna had the feeling that looks could be deceiving. A cursory scan indicated that there were workers working on the ships, though they seemed to have side arms of some sort as well, indicating that they may have either been crew, or possibly even Ordonian soldiers.

Seeing a slip in the harbor that was unoccupied, he pulled his vessel up to the slip, making sure to retract all of his ship's weapons before pulling up to the slip. He slowed down as he carefully pulled his vessel into the slip, guiding the ship between the metal posts jutting out of the water. After the ship was safely in the slip, Link brought he ship to a halt and turned off its engine. He then took the key out of the ignition and extended the boarding ramp. He went up to the main deck and joined Midna. He considered suggesting that she hide in his shadow, but considering the fact that the workers on the other docked ships may well have been Ordonian soldiers, and the act of Midna fading into his shadow could be seen as suspicious, he said nothing, simply walking down the ramp and onto the dock, followed closely by the Twili woman.

When they disembarked from the ship, they scanned the docks for the trail that they hoped would lead to either the village or to the Spirit Spring. They were surprised that they did not see any guards standing along the docks. After a second, though, Link was beginning to wonder if the harbor was as deserted as it seemed. After all, he had spotted several workers on the ships that were docked in the harbor and they could have just as easily been disguised guards. The hero quickly spotted a trail leading a way from the harbor and he followed it as it led into the woods just beyond the harbor. As he walked away, he did not notice several workers nodding to each other and a couple of them stopping their work and heading into what looked to be dense areas of forest, likely taking shortcuts to their destination.

Meanwhile, high above Ordona Province, not far away from the harbor at the southern tip of the peninsula that led into Ordona Province, a flight of Kargaroks flew above the area, each one being ridden by a Knight of Hyrule that had been specially trained to fly such birds. These Knights were keenly aware of the current situation regarding the invasion of Ordona Province and the return Princess Zelda and her lover, Link. They also knew that with the recent deaths of Prince Daphnes and Princess Tetra, along with the losses suffered in the failed invasion of Zora's Domain, the military of Hyrule was in trouble would need the guidance of the Knights of Hyrule and all of the forces that Princess Zelda and Link could gather in order to make sure that any other provinces or peoples did not get any bright ideas on rebelling, especially with the loss at Zora's Domain as well as the troubles that the Hyrulean fleet was having in the siege of Ordona. In addition to being able to ride Kargaroks, though, these Knights were also low-level magicians, which made them doubly useful to Zelda and the fallen Link. While they could not shoot lightning from their hands, breathe flame, or create tsunamis, they could use their magic to enhance their senses and their physical abilities, as well as get a good view of the battlefield and communicate their knowledge back to their commanders in the fleet below. They grimaced as they saw a volley of cannon fire sink a metal battleship that had gotten too close to the island.

The riders had been on routine patrol when they had spotted a small ship heading into Ordona Harbor. Their enhanced magical sight had allowed them to identify that one of the occupants had been a woman of unknown origin, for her skin color did not match that of any known being in Hyrule. They did not see anyone else onboard the ship, but since it had an engine, they figured that it was being piloted from inside the cabin and that there may well have been a crew below the main deck. They tried to extend their senses to see if the woman had any magical power, but they could not sense anything out of the ordinary from her. They did, however, notice a subtle shift in the behavior of the woman as she looked up into the sky and must have spotted them, for she seemed to grow a little concerned. Still, the woman and the vessel took no action against them, save for entering Ordona Harbor and the ship pulling into a slip. It would not have been the first merchant or other mercenary to side with Ordona Province and fight against Hyrule and, as such, they did not make too much of it.

Still, their presence was suspicious and they decided to make not of it in their report to their commanders in the fleet. In addition, this may have been important information to Princess Zelda and Fallen Link. Before breaking off from their patrol, though, one of the riders asked, "Milord, should we report the appearance of this new ship to the Princess and Link? It has not been long since their release, as well as Princess Tetra's death, and reports from the survivors of the invasion of Zora's Domain did indicate that a small ship like that one was a major player in the break of the siege."

The squad leader considered his subordinate's question. Thinking back on it, the sudden appearances of the small ship was suspicious, but it was not as if no one had gone to assist the Ordonians before. Several mercenary ships and forces had already gone to assist Ordona in its war against Hyrule. As such he decided that it was not worth bothering Zelda and Link at the moment about the ships, or the woman. He would note their appearance to the royalty in his report to the fleet commanders and if the newcomers took further suspicious action against Hyrule, they would report it. With that, he pulled on the reins of his Kargarok and directed the bird back to the invading fleet that was sitting just outside of firing range of Ordona's defenses, but well outside of their own firing range. The rest of his squad followed suit. However, the squad leader made a note to not forget to report the presence of the ship or the woman on the main deck. If they did turn out to be trouble, he wanted to make sure that the ship had docked in Ordona Harbor.

Inside the forest of Ordona Province, Link and Midna continued to make their way to Ordona's Spirit Spring, hoping that the Light Spirit would know the location of the Light Arrows. Not too far into their trek, they came across a hut that seemed to be occupied, for there was light coming from the window and smoke from the chimney. However, when they went over to the hut, they saw no one inside. Whether that meant that the occupant was away of if he was hidden close by did not matter. They simply decided to continue following the trail, hoping to spot some familiar landmarks as they continued on their way.

Not far into their journey, the duo came to a large the bridge that crossed a canyon. Link remembered this canyon, for it had once been the natural border between Ordona Province and Faron Province. It appeared as if Ordona Province had taken some land either during the siege or had taken when the floodwaters had risen and formed a defensive line to protect the province. More surprising to the hero, though, was the presence of Hyrulean soldiers standing in the middle of a clearing. Standing in the middle of the army was a soldier clad in black robes, indicating that he was a magician of some sort. All of these soldiers in the army were armed with rifles. There was a flash and what looked to be a column of surface ships appeared around the Hylians. Link suspected that these were the tanks that he had heard about in passing during his journey. Their cannons looked powerful enough to damage even a metallic warship. Link and Midna were careful to stay out of sight, not wanting to be spotted by the Hyrulean soldiers. They waited for the soldiers to make their move but the soldiers simply stood still, and did not move at all. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for something. Link studied the tanks and soon saw them swivel their turrets as one, pointing them further down the trail. The soldiers soon covered their ears, prompting Link and Midna to do the same. Then, as one, the tank cannons came to life, hurling bombs and other munitions into Ordona Province proper, and likely into Ordon Village. The ground shook with each firing from the tanks and it felt as if the land was being shaken apart. After a few minutes of fire, the first barrage was complete. Standing up and looking past the scene, Link saw explosions off in the distance and he could see smoke rising from the horizon beyond the trees. There was also an orange glow, indicating that at least some of the forest, or village, was on fire. However, Ordona Province was far from defenseless, as it proved in its return volley.

Link and Midna spotted several more fires spring up in the distance. Since they had not heard more impacts, they figured that this was due to Ordona Province returning fire. After a second, a series of thumps off in the distance sounded, prompting them to retreat from the scene as fast as possible, not wanting to be trapped among the soldiers if they were being bombarded from Ordona's return fire. Sure enough, Ordona's first volley of return fire came in the form of missiles similar to the ones that Link's ship used as its primary weapon. As soon as he saw the missiles coming down upon the Hylians, he knew that this battle, or skirmish as it seemed to be turning into, would be over very quickly. The first wave of missiles struck the tanks blowing them apart with single hits. The shrapnel from the tanks pelted the soldiers with the concussion from the explosions knocking them to the ground.

The next volley of fire landed among the surviving soldiers, annihilating whatever had remained of the Hyrulean forces. Shrapnel from the munitions skewered the remaining soldiers, their armor doing next to nothing to stop the clouds of metal being hurled at them. The wounded attempted to crawl away from the scene, but it would do them no good, for without any medical aid, they would not survive through the night, much less the next volley of fire. After the final volley of shells landed among the soldiers, the battle was over with not a single Hyrulean soldier surviving, including the magician, who had been reduced to rags and debris by the Ordonian fire.

Link and Midna waited for a couple more minutes before making their way past the scene, wanting to make sure that the Ordonians would not fire any more ordnance into the area, seeing the horrifying damage that could be inflicted upon them if they were targeted by the people of Ordona. When they were reasonably sure that it was safe to continue, they rushed past the scene, making certain to avoid the fires and stay away from the burning hulks as the ruined frames collapsed due to their weight and the flames, or exploded from their own fuel tanks catching fire. They did not stop to check on any of the intact Hyrulean soldiers lying on the ground, either. They simply ran past and continued on towards Ordona Province, keeping a sharp eye out for any soldiers, commandos, or other fighters for either side.

As they continued, they ran among a second line of tanks. These tanks would occasionally fire volleys of cannonballs into Ordona Province, prompting the Ordonians to return fire with their rockets. The rockets were very precise, far more so than the cannonballs of the tanks, and their volleys tore huge holes in the lines of the tanks. Link dodged and weaved his way around the tanks as the rockets were raining down onto the scene. The tank drivers and infantry soldiers were too busy trying to avoid the rocket volley for them to notice Link and Midna running through the battle. The duo kept to the side paths as they dashed for Ordona Province, trying to use the brush as partial cover against the rocket fire.

They eventually made their way past the tank line only to come across a force of fleeing Hyrulean soldiers and Knights of Hyrule. The duo immediately broke to their right and dove into the brush to avoid being seen by the soldiers, for they knew that any survivors would likely report on their appearance in Ordona, a province that was shoving back the Hyrulean commandos with contemptuous ease.

They waited in the bushes as the soldiers rushed past. They heard the sounds of gunfire and several soldiers fell to the ground, two of them being Knights of Hyrule. The soldiers sometimes gave cries of pain or shock as they fell, many of them having holes in their torsos or their backs, indicating bullet wounds. They waited until all of the soldiers had either made their way past, or had fallen, and the gunfire stopped, not wanting to be confused for an enemy and shot down by the people of Ordona Province. After waiting for five minutes after the last gunshot sounded, they eventually emerged from their cover and continued on their journey.

It did not take much longer for them to reach the bridge that separated a section of what may have once been Faron Province from Ordona Province proper. The way to the bridge, though, had been choked with bodies and debris from the fighting. Two more tanks, or remains of tanks, had been found along the path, along with numerous bodies of Hylian soldiers. All throughout the journey, though, they did not notice any Human bodies, indicating that the rout was also a massacre. Link did not know whether to feel a pang of sympathy towards the Hyrulean military or nothing at all. Despite the one-sided nature of the battle, he knew that the Hyrulean soldiers were serving an evil regime and while he had no such knowledge about the people of Ordona. And even if they were pirates that had invaded Ordona and were now fighting off the Hyrulean military, they were almost certainly no worse than the Hyrulean soldiers.

Once they came to the bridge, the duo saw several Ordonian soldiers guarding the bridge. These soldiers were armed with a strange type of rifle that looked smaller than the rifles used by the soldiers of Hyrule and had something sticking out of their bottoms and wore strange uniforms. Their uniforms were black with what looked to be vests of some sort. They did not seem to wear any obvious armor, but he had a feeling that they were still wearing some sort of armor, for they had suffered few to no casualties that they could see in the fighting. As the duo approached the bridge, the soldiers immediately pointed their weapons at them and cried, "Halt! Who goes there: friend or foe?"

"Friend!" Link and Midna cried in unison.

The guards were no so trusting and they refused to move to allow the duo past. When Midna tried to force the issue and move past them, they fired a warning shot at her feet. The rifles fired a single shot and the dust from the ground shot up as the bullet struck the ground in front of them. "Hold your fire!" Midna cried more frantically. "We're not Hyrulean soldiers!"

"Prove it," the lead soldier commanded.

Midna grumbled. "Do I look like a Hylian to you?"

"No," the soldier answered, shaking his head. Turning to Link, he then added, "But he does." He then studied Link a little more closely and continued, "And he's quite possibly the very one that's in charge of the military forces that are besieging this province."

Midna looked down at the ground. Neither she, nor Link, did not want to reveal too much about their true mission, for if there were spies, it would give them a heads up on what they were planning. Link knew that simply showing the Master Sword would be enough for the soldier to let them past, but if he did so and there were spies close by, then their cover would be blown wide open and their plans could probably be guessed, which would bring more pain down upon Ordona. They were saved when a bright golden light appeared from behind the soldiers. The light soon formed into a bright golden Ordonian Goat that both Link and Midna instantly recognized as Ordona, the Light Spirit. "Let them past Marcus. I can personally vouch for the fact that these two are not enemies. Just the opposite, in fact. They are close friends of this village."

"Understood, Ordona," Marcus answered, bowing and lowering his weapon. The other soldiers then stepped aside and allowed Link and Midna to pass. Link quickly walked past the soldiers and crossed the bridge to reach Ordona. Once they had crossed the bridge, Ordona turned and made its way into the woods. Link followed the spirit into Ordon Woods continued to follow the spirit until it turned to the right and entered Ordon Spring.

The duo walked along the sandy shore and looked into the fountain at the end, seeing numerous fairies hovering above the water. Link saw the fairies and remembered that he still had an empty bottle. Link quickly walked out into the center of the spring and allowed one of the fairies to touch him. As it did so, he was instantly rejuvenated and any possible fatigue immediately left him. It was as if he had just awakened from a good night's sleep. Ordona soon walked into the spring and looked at the two heroes. "Come with me," the spirit directed. "There are things we must discuss without being able to be seen by someone who can wield the powers of the Triforce."

Link and Midna glanced at each other and then back at Ordona. "What you will see and learn inside this secret area carries a great deal of importance for both of you, and will answer a great many questions about your true heritage," the spirit continued. "Do know, though, that where I am about to lead you is a secret that must never be revealed, not even to friends or to other forces of good, for a great power resides in this location."

"We understand," Midna stated for the both of them. Link nodded his affirmation, too.

"Then follow me," Ordona directed.

Link then followed Ordona to the back of the spring. As soon as they approached a wall covered with moss, Ordona walked right through it, saying, "Follow me."

Link cocked his head, questioning how he could walk through a wall, but he eventually followed and when he approached the wall, he saw what looked to be a crack behind the moss. Pushing his nose through the moss, he parted it and revealed a hidden door. Seeing something that looked like a switch, he pushed it and the door opened into the side of the hill. He then ducked down and entered the passageway.

As he proceeded through the passageway, it got larger and eventually, it was large enough for him to stand upright. When it opened up, he found Ordona standing in front of him. "It is now safe for you to speak freely. No one outside the shrine can detect you here or hear you."

Link nodded and asked, "Where does this passage lead?"

"To a shrine in Ordon Village," the Light Spirit answered. "It will have an item that will be essential for your quest."

"What item is that?" Midna asked.

"You will see," Ordona answered. "I do not want to say too much right now since there are other things you will discover about yourselves that are of a personal nature."

The two heroes did not ask any more questions and simply followed the Light Spirit down the rest of the passageway, which eventually led to a series of stone steps. Ordona stood by the stone steps and told them, "This is as far as I can go. Only a chosen hero may enter the shrine."

They two then climbed the steps and soon came to a door on the ceiling. Seeing a small rope, they pulled it and a staircase was revealed. They climbed the staircase and soon found themselves standing inside of a relatively small yet beautiful shrine. It had stain glass windows on each side of the building and a door but the door seemed to have no lock or lever with which to open it. Link also quickly noticed what looked to be another trapdoor on the ceiling. Midna stared at the altar and quickly saw several symbols mounted on the wall behind it. The symbol on the right was of a star in the shape of a hexagram. The second symbol, the one in the center of the others, was that of a cross with a person nailed to it, and the third, the one on the left, was of a crescent moon and star. "I recognize these symbols," Midna stated, continuing to gaze at them.

"What are they from?"

"Humanity's birth world," she answered. "The Twili never forgot their origins, either in Hyrule, or the fact that they, themselves, were refugees from a different world than Hylia. The Dark Interlopers were a tribe of people that consisted of several races, Human, Hylian, and even some Sheikahs and Gerudos. After the civil war where the king was overthrown, the most prominent member of the Dark Interlopers, however, were the Humans, of which I and all of the current Twilight Royal Family of my generation are descended. The symbols on the wall represent three of the most common religions on humanity's birth world, and its three primary monotheistic religions."

Link listened to Midna's explanation but was looking around the room, for the shrine seemed to be a little fancy for something that basically looked to be a shrine dedicated to three religions of a people from another world. He was soon drawn to a wall on his left where he saw a purple cloth covering a large object that was taller even than Midna that was leaning against the wall. He went over to the cloth and pulled it down, revealing a mirror. When he looked into the mirror, though, he not only saw his reflection, but something else, too. When he saw himself, he saw his usual form, but he quickly noticed that his pointed Hylian ears seemed to be translucent in the reflection, with normal Human rounded ears standing out as well. He studied himself and wondered if that was due to his half Hylian, half Human heritage.

Midna also went over to the mirror and looked into it. Link quickly saw her reflection only it was not the reflection of a Twili woman. It was the reflection of a tall Human woman with fiery red hair like Midna's but also blue eyes. She gasped at the sight and then quickly looked herself over, seeing her normal appearance. Looking at her reflection in the mirror once more, she mused audibly, "What's going on there?"

"You are seeing your souls' reflections," came a voice from the far end the shrine. They noticed that the trapdoor from the ceiling was now lowered into a staircase. Standing in the room was a Human male of about thirty years of age. He had brown hair and blue eyes and smiled calmly at them.

"Who are you?" Midna asked.

"I'm the caretaker of this shrine," the man answered. "My name is Sam."

"I'm Midna," the Twili woman answered, extending her hand.

"And I'm Link," Link offered.

"I know," Sam answered as he looked back at Link. "The only question is which Link you are."

"The good one," Midna told him, volunteering to speak for Link.

"If that is true, then you are welcome here," Sam answered. "But if you are the evil one, know that there is nothing here for you."

Link then drew the Master Sword and held it out in a non-threatening manner, indicating that he was, indeed, the good Link. "Well, that answers that," Sam stated with a smile, recognizing the Master Sword.

"We were told by Ordona that there is something here that can help us defeat Link and Zelda," Midna said.

"The Master Sword will do a good job of that," Sam responded.

"But Ordona told us that there was another item that would be needed for this quest."

"You mean the Light Arrows," Sam stated.

Midna nodded.

"They are here, somewhere. However, I cannot tell you where they are at the moment. They, and the Light that powers them, won't appear to just anyone."

Eventually, he was drawn to the altar that was situated not too far away from the wall. He went over to examine the altar, which looked to be a simple wooden table at first glance. However, Link thought he could see something glowing from the altar. He went to the altar to see if there was something on it that could be producing the light. Finding nothing, he examined the sides of the altar and found that the top part of it seemed to be removable, for the edges of it fell over the sides of the rest of the altar by a few inches. Pushing on the sides of the altar's top, he found that it was, indeed, removable and he pushed it open.

Light immediately flooded into the shrine as the interior of the altar was revealed. Inside the altar, he saw what looked to be a lamp that emitted a bright golden light. Stuck inside the lamp was an arrow. Midna came over to the altar and looked inside, seeing the light and arrow. Her eyes went wide at surprise at the sight. "That lamp contains the same Light as the Sols," she almost stammered.

"Yes," came the voice of Ordona from behind them. "That lamp is the source of the Light that was used to infuse the Master Sword with the Light and truly make it into the Blade of Evil's Bane."

"What about the arrow stuck inside?" Link asked.

"Take it and put it inside one of your quivers," Ordona directed.

Link then gripped the arrow and pulled on it. It came out of the lamp easily and when its tip emerged from the lamp, he saw that it was covered in what looked to be golden a crystal of Light. "When you put it in your quiver, every arrow in the quiver you put the Light Arrow in will be powered by the Light and become Light Arrows."

Link then did just as Ordona had said and put the arrow in his largest quiver. The arrow went in and the whole quiver immediately began to glow a bright gold as light shown forth from the quiver, prompting Midna to cover her eyes for a moment. She then opened them and the light in the quiver had dimmed. Link, however, quickly pulled out one of his arrows and saw that it was, indeed, a Light Arrow. He then put it back into the quiver and Ordona then told Link, "There is much you need to know if you wish to fight the evil Link and Zelda. First is this: the barrier erected is powered by five other barriers created from the temples to the Sages all throughout Hyrule. The Light Arrows that you have just acquired are the only weapons capable of piercing the barriers and their defenses and destroying them, thus draining the barrier over Hyrule Castle of its power. However, the quest will not be easy. The barriers are protected by some of the most powerful magicians in Hyrule's army, known as the Dark Sages. You will have to defeat them in order to reach the barriers in order to destroy them. The temples are located in the Lost Woods in Faron Province, inside Death Mountain, beneath Lake Hylia, inside the temple crypts in Kakariko Village, and finally in a section of the Arbiter's Grounds."

"Thank you Ordona," Link said as he prepared to leave the shrine. However, Ordona was not finished.

"One more thing," the Light Spirit called. "Don't use your Light Arrows carelessly. If you waste the arrows and use them all up, you'll have to come back here to power up more Light Arrows, and that will take time."

"I understand."

"Also be alert on your quest. Your enemies will be highly vulnerable to the Light, but they will take precautions against it as well. Many of them have great power. Do not underestimate them, or overestimate yourself, or you will fall like many others who have faced off against the forces of Hyrule." Ordona then paused before finishing with, "Before you go, you should visit Ordon Village and properly equip yourself for the quest in front of you. Take this with you, though." A crystal then formed in midair just above Ordona and floated into Link's hand. "This is the Light Crystal," Ordona explained. "This will allow you to utilize and power a Light Arrow in a pinch. It is made from Heaven's Light so the Light Arrow it produces will have the same abilities as the Light Arrows in your quiver. In addition, this will also prove that you are a friend of Ordon Village and an enemy of evil."

Link nodded and then thanked Ordona. He then made his way over to the trapdoor that led to whatever was above the shrine. Once he reached it, he climbed the steps until he came to the top. Emerging from the stairwell, he found himself standing in an unoccupied building with stone walls. There were no markings on the walls, but he did find a door that led out of the building. Midna came up from behind and pulled up the stairs as she followed him. Link then exited the building and entered Ordon Village.

The village was far different from what he had remembered when he had lived there. It still seemed to primarily be an agricultural village, but there were clear differences as well. First off was the fact that most of the houses appeared to be made of bricks. These houses also had chimneys that seemed to have smoke coming from them. Looking around the town, it was clear that no one was out save for some soldiers on patrol. This was not surprising to Link considering that it was night and that Ordon Village had just fought off an attack by the armies of Hyrule.

He quickly toured the village and examined its condition. Surprisingly, despite the fact that it had been under attack, the village had suffered surprisingly little damage. Only a couple of buildings had suffered superficial damage and looked to still be structurally sound. As he explored the village, he found what looked to be an item shop not too far away. When he approached it, though, he found that it was not so much an item shop as it was an armory. When he approached the armory, though, he was met by an Ordonian soldier in black clothing. "Halt!" the soldier called. Link immediately stopped in his tracks. "Who goes there?" The soldier immediately trained his rifle on the hero.

"A friend," Link answered.

"Prove it Hylian," the soldier answered.

Link then pulled out the Light Crystal and showed it to the soldier. The soldier looked at the crystal and his eyes went wide with surprise and shock. "Surely you are friends of Ordona if you managed to gain hold of a Light Crystal. You may go about your business." The soldier then left them alone to travel the village, saluting them as he left.

Once the soldier had departed, Link and Midna made their way over to the shop that more closely resembled an armory. When they arrived, they saw that it was still open. This was quite fortuitous since Link wanted to fully equip himself before setting off on his new quest. With Midna remaining outside, Link proceeded to enter the store.

When he entered, he saw a woman sitting behind the counter that resembled Sera from his Ordon Village. When she saw the boy, she was concerned at first and quickly grabbed a rifle-like weapon but said nothing. "Hold on," Link said, raising his hands and trying to calm her, and not be shot due to a misunderstanding. "I'm not an enemy."

"You're armed with a sword and are dressed like Link, the lover of Princess Zelda. Why should I trust you?"

Link then presented the Light Crystal to the woman and she immediately put the gun down and said, "My apologies. I thought you were an enemy. We've suffered so many attacks I was expecting them to send a spy."

"Your apprehension is understandable," Link answered. "I've seen Hyrule's dark side firsthand."

The woman nodded. "How's the fighting going?" she asked.

"So far, Ordon Village seems to be doing okay. It pushed back Hyrule's last attack and the defenses seem to be keeping Hyrule's fleet at bay.

"Good," the woman said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm worried that Hyrule would never let up, though. They've been launching constant attacks on us for a while. It was shocking when that magician appeared just before the bridge.

Link nodded, not telling the woman that he had witnessed the resulting battle. Eventually, she studied him and asked, "So, is there anything I can help you find?"

Link looked at her wares and found that her store was stocked with bombs, Bombchus, Bomblings, Water Bombs, rifles, pistols, ammunition for the firearms, and numerous potions. Knowing that he was not skilled with firearms, he went with only filling out his bomb bags. Once he selected the merchandise, he paid the woman and then departed. As he departed, she called, "Thank you, come again."

Link departed and rejoined Midna as soon as he left he shop. As soon as he was ready, the duo made their way to the village's exit, not stopping to visit anywhere else in the village. They both wanted to get underway with their quest as quickly as possible, giving the evil Link and Zelda as little time to act and make preparations for them as possible.

Before leaving Ordona Province, though, Link took a quick detour back into the Spirit Spring. When he entered the spring, he immediately got out his sole remaining empty bottle and scooped up a fairy that floated by. He quickly corked the bottle and examined it to make sure that the fairy was safely secured in the bottle and uninjured. It was and Link then put the bottle away. With the fairy now in his possession, he had a safety net in case any of his enemies were able to inflict fatal injury on him. Once he was ready, he transformed back into a wolf in the spring, hoping that it would shield him from spies, with Midna transforming back into her imp form. Once they were ready, they departed the spring and crossed the bridge and made their way back to their ship.

The trip back to their ship was free of incident. With the infiltrating Hyrulean forces having been destroyed, there was nothing between them and their ship. Even so, though, the duo rushed back to their ship, eager to get underway with their quest. With the Light Arrows, Link would be able to destroy the Sage Barriers that fed energy to the barrier over Hyrule Castle. More importantly, the Light Arrows would also be useful in taking down King Nohansen when they finally engaged him in battle.

When Link arrived at the dock, he rushed over to his ship and examined its hull just to make sure that everything was okay and that any infiltrators did not manage to sabotage the vessel. Everything seemed okay, so he followed Midna, who simply walked up the ramp, onto the ship. After checking the interior of the ship, and finding that everything was in working order, Link went to the ship's bridge, inserted the key, started the ship, the ship vibrating slightly as the engine came to life, and took the ship out of the harbor.

The hero followed the small river out of Ordona Province and once they were clear of the river, turned to the east to the north to follow the coastline so he could get to Faron Province. As they departed the island, they could see the line of Hyrulean warships close to the horizon, just outside of the firing range of Ordona's cannons. However, they were not too far to send in more Kargaroks. Using his Hawkeye, Link spotted a wing of seventy-two Kargaroks closing in on his vessel, the birds carrying lit powder kegs, and rushed outside to alert Midna.

"Midna, we've got Kargaroks to our port side high! They're carrying powder kegs."

Midna nodded and used her magic to swivel the carronades so that they were pointed to the ship's port side. She elevated the barrels of the carronades so that they were aimed straight at the oncoming Kargaroks. When the birds were within range of the anti-personnel cannons, Midna covered her ears and stepped away from the cannons as they opened fire on the birds. Metal balls were hurled from the barrels of the carronades, the balls spreading out like grapeshot as they left the barrels of the carronades. The Kargaroks were in too close formation to avoid taking significant losses and several were shattered by the sheer weight of fire and practically fell to pieces as they fell from the sky. Others were supposedly less fortunate as the hot metal balls struck the lit powder kegs and ignited them, causing them to explode and annihilate the unfortunate Kargarok and rider, as well as any other Kargarok close by. Those that were carrying powder kegs also had their own powder kegs explode and so on and so forth. Link and Midna watched the chain reaction in the sky as the entire wing of Kargaroks was destroyed.

"Well, that was easier than expected," Midna commented with a note of caution. For her, it _was_ a little too easy. Link felt the same way and he was on guard, focusing his attention on the fleet sitting outside of Ordona's firing range.

Their caution was quickly shown to be wise, for a jet of water soon shot up into the air a mere two feet away from the ship. Looking out over the water, Link spotted a massive vessel, and also familiar, ship moving alongside his ship, as if it were following him. He clearly recognized the vessel as the _H.R.S. Hylia_. Suddenly, dozens of clouds of smoke rose from the side of the ship accompanied with bright orange flashes, clear indications that the broadside cannons had opened fire. Suddenly, there were several jets of water as the splashes could be seen to his ship's port side. None of the splashes came within two meters of his vessel, though. Still, Link knew that the _Hylia_ was eager to prove its worth and must have suspected that he was onboard their target.

He quickly ducked back into the bridge and deployed his ship's main cannon, knowing that his own broadside cannons did not have the range, or the power, to reach and pierce the metal hull of the _H.R.S. Hylia_. Another jet of water rose just in front of the ship, the waves that resulted buffeting the ship, causing it to rock. Turning the cannon to the left, he targeted the humongous vessel and prepared to fire. He knew that his anti-ship rockets had the range to reach the _Hylia_ easily, the only question would be how many it would take to sink the behemoth. Once he had drawn a bead on the ship, he pushed the red button on his console and flames shot out of the rear of the cannon as the rocket erupted from the launcher. The rocket crossed the distance between Link's vessel and the _H.R.S. Hylia_ within seconds, far too quickly for anyone to shoot down.

The rocket slammed into the hull directly on the lowest gun deck. The explosion tore a massive hole into the side of the ship, destroying several of the cannons and creating a fire on the deck that the gun crews frantically attempted to extinguish in order to make sure that it did not detonate the powder magazine, which could have inflicted catastrophic damage onto the ship. The ship shook from the explosion, but it was far from beaten and still able to fight.

The _Hylia_ retaliated by unleashing another vicious barrage of cannon fire on Link's ship. However, it was still outside of its own firing range and the cannonballs splashed into the water several meters to the port side of the vessel. However, while the cannon fire was still landing safely away from the ship Link did not want to take any chances that a lucky shot could score a hit and critically damage his vessel.

The cannon's loader loaded another rocket into it and Link targeted the hole in the side of the _Hylia_. He hoped that the ship's powder magazine was located in that section of the ship when he targeted the ship. If it was and he could deliver a rocket into the magazine, he could inflict catastrophic damage to the ship and possibly even sink it. Having the cannon aim for the hole in the ship, he pushed the red firing button and another rocket leapt from the cannon. The rocket crossed the distance between the two ships and as if it had been preternaturally guided, the rocket flew straight into the hole created by the first rocket and struck something inside the ship and detonated.

Almost immediately upon the detonation, fire billowed from the hole created by the first rocket. This was almost instantaneously accompanied by a massive explosion that greatly expanded the hole in the ship. Following that massive explosion was a series of secondary explosions both on the ship's lower gun deck as well as the second gun deck. Holes were blown out of the side of the ship and smoke and flame erupted from them. More importantly, though, was the fact that the ship seemed to be listing to the left a bit and sinking. The explosion of the powder magazine must have blown a hole in the bottom of the vessel, for it was beginning to involuntarily submerge beneath the waves. However, it was still firing towards Link's vessel, several jets of water shooting up in front of Link's vessel, indicating that the remaining gun crews had the proper distance to his ship.

Link went to make sure that the _Hylia's_ threat was neutralized permanently by firing a third rocket at the ship. The explosions from the second rocket and the detonation of the powder magazine would have finished off a lesser vessel, and likely would eventually claim the _Hylia_ as well, but Link wanted to make the ship's fate certain. The rocket erupted from the cannon and streaked towards the massive dreadnaught. The rocket flew into one of the smaller holes generated by the secondary explosions and detonated, blowing another massive hole into the ship. The detonation also inflicted damage to the upper gun deck and also blew a hole in the main deck, the detonation sending crew and soldiers standing on the main deck at the point of the explosion flying in all directions. At least two important nobles had been killed in the explosion. Still, the ship was not finished yet.

A fourth rocket was all the _H.R.S. Hylia_ could take. The rocket erupted from the main cannon of Link's tiny ship and streaked towards the massive dreadnaught. It flew through one of the holes on the first gun deck and detonated. The explosion must have struck a powder keg that had not detonated previously, for there was a secondary explosion on the ship shook the ship and caused more smoke and flame to spew out of the breach. The explosion also tore a hole in the bottom of the ship and it was too much for the _Hylia_ to take. The dreadnaught listed more to the side, allowing water to flow through the massive hole created by the initial rocket. As more water flooded into the hole, the ship took on more water and submerged beneath the waves at an increased rate. Seeing that the ship was lost, the crew attempted to abandon ship, but many of the lifeboats were either destroyed or were cut off from access due to the ship's listing. Those that were still available were being used by officers and a few nobles to attempt to flee the ship. Link did not stay to see who survived and who perished. He simply set his vessel's throttle to full and gunned it for Faron Province.

After about half an hour, Link's vessel approached the Faron border. Once he was in Faron Province, he scanned the island that contained the Forest Haven, knowing that there was a dock located there, and as such, there would be a safe place for him to dock his ship while he searched for the Forest Temple.

After a few minutes of searching, he found the dock off in the distance. Using his Hawkeye, he scanned his surroundings for any signs of Hyrulean vessels. So far, there were none. It appeared as if the only defenses that Hyrule had were on the island, itself. And given what he had seen from his earlier trip, chances were that the island had minimal defenses. Once he arrived at the dock, he eased his ship to the dock, carefully maneuvering it into the slip close to shore. Once the ship was successfully docked, he turned off the engine and proceeded to take the key from the ignition. Then, he went up to the main deck and joined Midna. Then, after extending the boarding ramp, the duo disembarked from the ship and followed the trail into the forest, and hopefully to their desired destination.

Meanwhile, back in Hyrule Castle, the evil Link and Zelda were standing in the castle's throne room as they were preparing to receive the reports from their subordinates. They had spent most of the day consolidating their forces and putting their loyal commanders and forces in the temples on high alert, telling them to look out for Link and Midna. Zelda was reading over the last report that was made by her servants all throughout the kingdom. The reports were not good. The force sent to attack Ordona Province was being held back by the superior weaponry of the Ordonians. The attempt to land troops on Ordona had ended with the infiltration force being completely annihilated, with Ordona's military forces suffering few casualties in return. In addition, the _H.R.S. Hylia_, the Hyrulean Navy's flagship, had been sunk by a small vessel that had been armed with rockets. They did not know if the vessel had belonged to Link and Midna, but they knew that a loss like that would be a morale crusher. Even worse was that Link and Midna had also not been located at all. As such, she quickly initiated contact with the Dark Sages that were stationed in the various temples that were feeding the castle's barrier.

The darkened forms of the Dark Sages appeared before the group and bowed at the sight of Princess Zelda.

"What is your bidding, my princess," the Dark Sages asked in unison.

"I want your reports on any incidents that have occurred since my return," Zelda answered harshly.

Each of the Dark Sages reported that there was nothing out of the ordinary at all. No one had launched any attack on their temples yet. When asked if they had spotted Link or the Dar Woman, they answered that they had not seen either of them, which did nothing for Zelda's temperament.

"Listen," she commanded. "The Link and Dark Woman that are out there are very dangerous, as you must know since they killed both Prince Daphnes and Princess Tetra. They also attempted to attack us through the barrier and if that Sage Rauru is still alive, which I think he is, he will almost certainly fill in Link on the situation. That means that he will be coming for each and every one of you. You must all take precautions if you are to avoid meeting the same fate as Daphnes. He is _not_ to be taken lightly."

"Understood, Princess," the Dark Sages answered in unison. Then, their shadowy forms vanished from sight, leaving Zelda alone with her lover.

"You should relax," the former hero, now turned villain, suggested to the princess.

Princess Zelda looked at Link skeptically. "Relax? You're the one who wants to tear out Link's heart and put it on a silver platter and feed it to the dogs. And you're not exactly relaxed, either," she added, noting that he had been fidgeting with anticipation during the reports by the Dark Sages.

"I know," Fallen Link admitted, nodding, "But I also don't want you to get too upset, either."

"I'm fine," Zelda assured him, smiling, doing her best to hide her own anger at the situation, as well as her concern, for while she outwardly wanted to fight Link and the Dark Woman, and there was a part of her inside that wanted to do so as well, inwardly, she was more than a little concerned about how that fight would turn out. After all, the Dark Woman had held her own against them in their last battle. They did not want to have to fight Link and Midna on even terms. Either way, though, they both knew that worrying about that eventuality would not help them. Zelda then smiled sensuously over at Link, the villain returning her smile.

"Come with me, Link. I think I know just how I can be made to relax a bit," the princess said sensuously.

The fallen Link eagerly joined her as she then ushered him into their bedroom. Once they were inside, she closed the door and made absolutely certain that they would not be interrupted by anything.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20:

Link made his way through the forest, doing his best to find the location of the first Dark Sage. So far they had not come across anyone on their trek. The only minor threats that they faced were some Keese and rats, which the duo either dispatched with contemptuous ease or simply ran away from, not wanting to waste time dealing with them.

As they made their way through the forest Link began to glance around at the scenery and wanted to get an idea of where the temple was located. Glancing over at Midna, he asked, "Can you sense any strong magical power close by?"

Midna closed her eyes and opened her senses to try to zero in on the strongest and/or nearest source of magic in Faron. Almost instantly, she sensed the a magical power not too far away.

"We're in luck, Link," she answered. "I'm sensing a magical power not too far away."

"Lead the way."

Midna lead the way through the forest, followed closely by Link. The hero drew his sword and shield, ready to protect Midna on the chance that they came across any enemy forces. However, they encountered no enemy forces in their trek.

Eventually, they came across a bridge that crossed a large chasm. When they got onto the bridge, they stopped for a moment, Link scanning his surroundings. The bridge was narrow, only wide enough to fit a single person. Looking ahead, he did not see anyone on the other side, but he did see a flock of Keese flying around the center of the bridge. The Keese would not be too much trouble for them, so Link simply charged across the bridge, Midna following him. When they were within range of the Keese, the bat-like enemies dove down upon them, attempting to ram them. Not wanting to waste time dealing with the bats, Link simply charged past them as he crossed the bridge.

After reaching the other side of the bridge, Link came upon a ledge that overlooked the large chasm that he had just crossed. On the other side of the ledge, Link saw a log-like tunnel that looked large enough to fit a tall Hylian. Without a moment's hesitation, the hero charged through the tunnel.

The hero emerged from the tunnel, finding himself in the middle of the of a new set of woods that a sign next to him identified as the Lost Woods. As he entered the Lost Woods, he took a quick look around at his surroundings. The forest was eerie, far more so than Faron Woods. There was an echo as he could hear his own footfalls as he walked towards a ledge. He saw that he was overlooking a ledge he saw a grassy field with large trees growing from plots of soil. Link looked back at Midna and the Twili woman nodded, indicating that they were on the right path.

On the other side of the field, there was another ledge. However, the only way across was to climb the ladder down to the small field and climb the ladder on the other side. Link quickly climbed down the ladder and reached the meadow below. As they entered the meadow, a Deku Scrub emerged from a series of bushes and spit out Deku Nuts at them. Link did not want to waste time dealing with the Scrub, so he simply rushed over to the ladder and before he went to climb it, he turned to face the Scrub and raised his Hylian Shield to intercept the next nut. The Deku Nut struck his shield and he thrust it forward, pushing the nut back at the Deku Scrub. The nut scored a direct hit on the Deku Scrub and it gave a cry and leapt from its bush and quickly backed away from the bush. Link did not follow up with a second attack, not wanting to waste the ammunition to deal with the Scrub. Besides, the Scrub's threat was already neutralized so killing the Deku Scrub was unnecessary. He climbed the ladder and then went through the next tunnel.

When they emerged in the next tunnel, they came upon a large grassy area with two stumps, one tall with another one being much taller. On the taller stump was a figure that looked very much like the Skull Kid. He wore a skull mask and was playing a bone flute. He did not notice Link and Midna and the duo simply ran past him and went into the next tunnel. After entering the next tunnel, Link and Midna began to hear the sound of an ocarina playing. They went through the tunnel in front of them and found themselves in another section of the Lost Woods, seeing another four tunnels. Both he and Midna scanned their surroundings and the Twili asked, "Any idea how to get through the woods? We lucked out when we entered the first tunnel."

Link scanned his surroundings and went over to one of the logs but when he did so, the sound of the ocarina's melody faded. He then went back to the center of the area and heard the ocarina's sound once more. He then went to one of the other tunnel exits and found the melody begin to fade once more. As he heard the melody fade, he began to realize that he could use the melody to find his way through. He relayed the information to Midna, telling her, "I think I know how to find our way through these woods. Listen for the sound of the ocarina melody. We can use that to guide ourselves through the Lost Woods."

Midna nodded and went to the nearest tunnel and heard the sound of an ocarina. "Over here," she called to Link.

The hero followed her and they entered the tunnel, emerging after a short distance into a new area of the maze. They continued to follow the ocarina melody as they made their way through the Lost Woods. Eventually, they came to the end of the tunnel maze and came upon a metal gate and two large patches of large grass.

When they approached the gate, a Wolfos sprang from the ground and gave a loud, piercing howl. As soon as it had given off the howl, it charged towards Link. Link immediately unsheathed his blade and raised his shield as the Wolfos ran around Link, its tongue hanging out as it glared at the hero. Eventually, it lunged towards Link and attempted to rake its claws across Link's body. The hero backed away and the Wolfos slashed at nothing but air. It followed up with a second slash that spun it around, exposing its back. Link then performed a Jump Attack and struck the wolf-like beast in the back, slaying it. The beast immediately erupted into an unnatural blue flame, which lasted for two seconds until the entire beast was consumed. Once the beast had vanished, a chime sounded and the gate immediately retracted, granting Link and Midna access to the Hedge Maze.

The duo quickly entered the narrow maze and turned to the right. Link held his shield out in front since the narrow confines of the maze made evasion nearly impossible. He merely hoped that they would not face down any truly dangerous enemies. Near a turn in the maze, they encountered their first source of resistance, a Deku Scrub. The Deku Scrub spit Deku Nuts at Link, which he intercepted with his shield and sent back to the Scrub. The nut struck the Scrub and forced it from its bush. The Deku Scrub retreated from its bush down the next corridor. Link followed after the Scrub down the corridor, not necessarily wanting to kill the Scrub, but simply trying to get through the maze. About half way down the corridor, he saw a shortcut to a new area of the maze and he went through, followed closely by Midna.

In the next sector of the maze, he was met by another Deku Scrub. Raising his shield, he intercepted another Deku Nut and sent it flying back towards the Deku Scrub. The nut struck the Scrub and forced it from its plant and it fled in the other direction. Link followed down the corridor until he came to the next corridor. As they reached the next corridor, the Deku Scrub was cornered and tried to lash out at Link, only to be cut down by the hero. As he turned to go down the next corridor, he encountered another Deku Scrub. Using the same tactics as before, he sent the Deku Scrub's nut back at it and forced it from its plant. He made his way down the corridor to try to get closer to the end of the maze, not trying to fight the fleeing Scrub. When he came upon the Scrub, this one was wiser than the last and it simply dived into the bushes, allowing the heroes to pass without incident.

The two heroes continued to make their way through the maze and eventually, they came upon a stone stairwell on the side wall of the maze. Knowing that the stairwell likely led closer to the Forest Temple. They made their way up the stairs and came upon a grassy trail that led to a more open area and a building off in the distance. Guarding the path were three large Stalkin that were gigantic in proportion. The moment Link and Midna set foot on the trail, their eye sockets began to glow and they came alive. Fortunately, though, the huge Stalkin were not armed, so Link and Midna should be able to deal with them. Not wanting to take any chances, Link drew out a Bomb Arrow and notched it to his bow. He targeted the closest of the Stalkin and let fly with the arrow. The arrow struck the skeleton in the center of mass and it detonated, blowing the skeleton apart, ending its threat at least temporarily. As Link went to notch a second Bomb Arrow to his bow, Midna stepped out in front of the hero and extended her hand forward. A ball of flame formed in front of her hand and she quickly launched it at the second Stalkin. The ball of flame struck the Stalkin and then exploded, engulfing the skeleton in flames. The skeleton erupted in flames and collapsed. Within a few seconds, the bones were reduced to ashes. As soon as she had taken down the second Stalkin, Link fired his arrow at the third Stalkin, the arrow striking the skeleton in the throat, the detonation blowing apart the skeleton. With the Stalkin having been dealt with, Link and Midna made their way through the grassy trail, towards the exterior grounds of the Forest Temple.

In front of them was a large stone platform that had a Triforce symbol etched onto it. The platform looked important, though he did not know what it was used for. The hero's gaze then shifted towards the temple, itself. The temple looked to be a large building that was overrun with vines and plants. It more closely resembled a mansion than a place of worship or reverence. Link searched for any signs of plant-like enemies such Deku Babas or Deku Scrubs but could find none. He also did not find any other forest style enemies such as Skulltulas, either. This gave him hope that the temple had not been overrun by evil and that his mission would be relatively simple and easy. However, he suspected that if the evil Link and Zelda had set up a generator in the temple to power their castle's defenses, then they would clear it out of any dangerous enemies. However, he would also have expected enemy soldiers to be stationed either near or inside the temple, though so far, he had found no signs of enemy soldiers. Just the opposite. Instead, the temple seemed to be completely deserted save for Saria, who was sitting on a fallen log near a stone symbol on the ground, playing her ocarina.

When they approached the Kokiri she stopped playing and looked up, noticing the two heroes. She gasped at the sight of Midna. "Wha…? What is a Twili doing here?"

Midna frowned, not bothering to hide her displeasure at Saria's reaction to her presence "I'm helping Link," she answered. "I also fought against King Nohansen before Hyrule was flooded."

"You're also a Twili, a descendant of the Dark Interlopers who attempted to break into the Sacred Realm to acquire the Triforce," Saria countered.

"In order to prevent the Magic Lords from reaching Hyrule!" Midna screamed. "And we all know what the result of the Interlopers' banishment and ignoring of their warning was." She smirked at the Kokiri, causing Saria to take a step back for a second before glaring at Midna again.

Link then got between the two of them before the argument could get out of hand. "Calm down, everyone, we're on the same side," he said, trying to diffuse the situation.

Midna turned and glowered at the hero but did not push the issue. Saria also did not continue arguing with the former Twilight Queen so she calmed down, too. Link breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Saria and asked, "What is the situation inside the Forest Temple?"

"I don't know," she answered. "I just arrived here. I found the appearance of the Deku Scrubs and the Wolfos suspicious and went to investigate. However, the key needed to access the temple is on the top of a tall tree stump."

That would not be a problem for Link. He went over to the tree stump and looked up. He saw the treasure chest sitting on the top of the stump. Looking to his left, he saw another tree with a large branch that hung over the tree stump. Taking out his Clawshot, he fired it at the tree branch. The claw shot from the launcher and stabbed into the branch, the chain pulling Link up to the top of the tree stump. Once he had safely gotten to the chest, he opened it and pulled out an ornate key. He then fired the Clawshot at the branch once more and used it to lower himself safely down to the ground.

Once he was safely back down on the ground, he proceeded to make his way to the temple's entrance, followed closely by Midna. As he went, though, Saria called out to him, saying, "Wait Link, before you enter, I need to know if you have an ocarina."

Midna then stepped forward and produced the Ocarina of Time. The magical instrument gave off a series of sparkles and a magical aura that Saria was able to see. Saria looked at the instrument in wonder and then back at Link and Midna. "Where did you get this?"

"Tetra dropped it when she betrayed me," Link answered.

"Tetra has always been loyal only to herself and her parents, and the latter only because it helps herself," Saria said in disgust. "You were warned not to trust the Royal Family," she said sternly to Link.

"That doesn't matter right now," Midna interjected. "We have to get going and destroy the barrier inside the temple."

"You'll never get through the temple without using the Ocarina of Time. There are blue blocks inside the Forest Temple with a Symbol of Time, on them. Use the Song of Time to move them or place them so you may continue on your journey."

Midna looked over at Link and handed him the ocarina. "You'll need this more than I will," she told him with a playful smile, indicating her magical power.

Link took the ocarina and played into it, trying to get accustomed to the fingerings for the notes. After a few minutes of practice, he felt as if he had a sufficient understanding of the instrument to be able to play back simple songs. He then indicated to Saria that he was ready for her to proceed. She then put her brown ocarina to her lips and told Link, "Listen to the song, remember it, and keep it in your heart."

She then played the Song of Time for Link. He remembered the tune as being one of the howling songs he had howled alongside the Hero's Shade in Gold Wolf form. Once Saria was finished, she told him, "Now you try."

He played back the song, making sure to get the fingerings perfect as well as the timing. He got it right on the first try, which impressed Saria. "Very good," she congratulated. "I guess this isn't your first time playing an ocarina."

"Actually it is," Link said, blushing. He did not notice Midna begin to scowl with impatience.

"This is all well and good that you're getting along and all, but we have a job to do and you're wasting valuable time," she said in no uncertain terms.

Her disapproving declaration and tone snapped Link's gaze back towards her. Link then looked back at Saria and said, "Sorry, but we have to go."

Saria understood and nodded, wishing him luck. "Be careful inside the temple, Link. No one has been inside the Forest Temple in a long time. Anything could be found inside. There are, however, rumors that someone bad has been using this temple as a base of operations. Be ready for anything. The first thing you should do is search for the temple's map."

Link nodded, heeding the girl's warning but he would not let anything deter him from his mission. He had a chance to cripple Hyrule's power and lower the defenses of Hyrule Castle and he would not waste it. He simply went up to the door, which was a large wooden door, and inserted the key into the lock. Turning the key, he heard a click. Once he heard the click, he pushed the door open and went into the temple, followed by Midna.

The moment the duo entered the temple, they found themselves in a long, narrow corridor with a Big Skulltula hanging down from the ceiling. Still having his Clawshot out, Link pointed the tool at the Skulltula and fired. The claw shot from the launcher and speared the Skulltula squarely in its skull-like armor, instantly piercing it and destroying the creature, which erupted into unnatural blue flames. With no further enemies to face, he and Midna then made their way down the corridor, coming to a doorway which opened into the main room of the temple.

When they emerged into the main room, the duo looked around from the landing down to the main floor. There were no signs of enemy activity, though there did seem to be an area section of floor that was surrounded by four torches with differently colored flames. One torch was orange, the next blue, another green, and a fourth one purple. The moment they stepped onto the steps to walk down to the main room, the flames immediately went out and they started to a dark feeling come over them. After a couple of seconds, four Poes sprang into existence. Each one wore a hood carried a torch with the flame that corresponded to the color of the torch that they had appeared over. The Poes looked over at Link and Midna and then quickly retreated from the torches, splitting up, going in different directions. As they were fleeing the room, Link and Midna ran down the stairs to try to intercept them but the Poes were too fast and they eventually disappeared through the doors.

As soon as they had disappeared, the duo stopped and Midna growled, keeping herself from cursing. "Darn those Poes, we need those flames," she said angrily.

Link looked around the room and saw that all of the doors appeared to be locked up tight as well. It appeared as if things were going to be more complicated than he initially had believed. There was only one unlocked door, and that was up a set of stairs across from the temple's entrance. Seeing nothing better to do, Link crossed the main room and ascended the stairs to the door. He opened the door and went on through, followed closely by Midna.

On the other side of the door, he found himself in a short, unoccupied corridor with a door at the other end. The two quickly crossed the corridor and made their way to the door and opened it. They then entered a medium-sized barren octagonal room. It only remained barren for a few moments, though, for when Link stepped out onto the floor, a Stalfos sprang to life and immediately attacked the hero. Link raised his sword to catch the initial strike of the skeletal soldier. He then stabbed the skeleton, managing to break several of the skeleton's bones. Unfortunately, none of the bones were vital to the structural integrity of the skeleton so it was still able to fight. It immediately counterattacked Link by thrusting its own shield forward and knocking Link off balance. It then rushed towards Link to finish him off but was blindsided by Midna when she sent a blast of magic its way, sending it tumbling to the ground. Link quickly recovered and took advantage of this opportunity to perform an Ending Blow on the skeleton. Once he thrust his sword into the skeleton's chest, it broke apart, the bones not moving. He quickly got out a bomb and placed it among the pile of bones.

As soon as he had felled the first Stalfos, two more sprang from the ground and went to attack him as he was laying the bomb down on the first one. He saw them out of the corner of his eye and ducked their initial swipes. He then fled the scene as the bomb's fuse burned down. He then turned to face the Stalfos and drew out a Deku Nut. He quickly tossed it to the undead soldiers and its loud crack and blinding flash of light stunned the skeletal soldiers, causing them to freeze in their tracks, right on top of their fallen brethren, and the bomb, which then exploded, destroying all three Stalfos.

As soon as the Stalfos were destroyed, Link heard a chime and a faint ringing sound began to echo throughout the room. A sparkle of light began to revolve around a center location in the room and a treasure chest soon came into being. In addition, there were two small gray keys where the Stalfos had once been. Link quickly picked up the keys and then went over to the treasure chest. He opened it and reached inside. He then pulled out a piece of paper and opened it, revealing the map of the Forest Temple.

Link studied the map closely, with Midna peering over his shoulder so she could get a good look at it, too. They studied it for several minutes before Link folded it back up and looked back at her. "Okay, two of the ghosts headed towards the western courtyard and the other two headed east. We should split up so we can destroy the ghosts and relight the torches' flames more quickly."

Midna nodded in agreement. "I'll go east. That looks like a more complicated area to navigate and my magic will make that easier whereas you can head west. We'll meet back in the central room once we're done."

Link nodded and then handed Midna a key. The duo quickly made their way back to the main room. Midna headed east, where she used her key to enter the east wing of the temple. Link, meanwhile, headed west. He went up a flight of stairs that led to a door that was blocked by a large blue block with a Song of Time symbol. Link immediately got out the Ocarina of Time and played the Song of Time before it. Once Link had completed the song, the block vanished in a pillar of blue energy and the way to the west wing of the temple opened. Link proceeded to make his way up the stairs and entered the wing.

Inside the west wing, he found himself in a large stairwell. Looking to his left, he found an unlit torch. Examining it, though, he noticed that it had recently been lit. He quickly made his way up the stairs and as he ascended the stairs, he heard a ghostly laugh. He looked back and saw a blank portrait. He then turned around and saw a painting of the Poe with the orange torch and hood at the top of the first set of stairs. As he approached the painting, the image of the ghost disappeared with the same eerie laugh that he had heard before. It was then that Link realized that he had to destroy the portraits in order for the ghost to be revealed. He then looked around to see where the ghost had ended up after disappearing from the portrait above the landing. He went to the upper level and saw the third portrait with the ghost hiding inside of it.

Link immediately drew his bow and notched an arrow to it. He pulled back on the string and let fly with the arrow, scoring a direct hit on the painting. As soon as the arrow struck the painting, the painting erupted into magical flames and a low-pitched laugh similar to the previous laugh could be heard. He then turned to his rear and saw the ghost in the paining on the landing. He fired an arrow at that painting and destroyed it, too. He then went down to the landing and looked to his rear and found the third painting on the back wall. Firing one final arrow, he destroyed that painting as well.

After the third painting was destroyed, the ghost appeared, spinning as it revealed itself. It then floated down to the first level of the staircase where it floated around, not wanting to risk engaging a Poe at close range, and because he felt as if he had enough arrows for the job, he simply camped out on the stairway and fired an arrow into the ghost. The arrow struck true and the ghost gave a short cry of pain and backed away fearfully, vanishing for a second before reappearing and looking around to see who had attacked it. Link simply readied another arrow and once the ghost was within sight once more, he fired again. Again, the ghost fearfully retreated and disappeared for a few moments. After those few seconds, it reappeared, clueless as to where its attacker was located. Link then fired a third arrow into the ghost and, upon taking the hit, the ghost was consumed by a magical flame, leaving nothing except for it torch. After the ghost was destroyed, the flame vanished from the torch and it fell to the ground and shattered. The flame then reappeared over the torch at the bottom of the stairs and it came to rest in its braziers. A chime soon sounded and a treasure chest also appeared on the bottom floor. He immediately went over to the treasure chest and opened it. Inside, he found a compass, which would be very helpful for navigating both this dungeon as well as later dungeons. Once he had taken the compass, he made his way up the stairs, feeling that up was the only place for him to go at the moment. One ghost was down, one to go for him, two if one of the other three remaining ghosts made an unexpected appearance, which he hoped they would not. He felt as if Midna was best suited for dealing with Poes and he would not begrudge her a chance to deal with two of them.

Link arrived at the top of the stairwell and saw an unlocked door that he suspected had been locked before the ghost had been dealt with. It was unlocked so he made his way through. He went through a short corridor before entering circular room with a pit in the center of it. As he went to make his way around the pit, a Stalfos emerged from the ground and immediately attacked Link. Not wanting to waste time with the Stalfos, Link raised his shield and thrust it forward as the Stalfos launched its initial attack. The thrust caught the skeleton's attack and knocked it off balance. Link then leapt forward and performed a Helm Splitter attack, jumping over the Stalfos and bisecting its head. A Jump Attack managed to cut the Stalfos to pieces. Wasting no time, Link placed a bomb on the skeleton's remains and ran as it exploded, destroying the skeleton.

As soon as the first skeleton was destroyed, a circular section of the ceiling fell down to the room and filled in the pit. As soon as the floor was put in place, two more Stalfos appeared and attacked. Link immediately performed a Helm Splitter on the first Stalfos that attacked him, bisecting the skeleton's head, inflicting a great deal of damage to the skeleton. A subsequent Jump Attack caused the skeleton to break apart into a pile of bones. As it fell, though, Link was attacked by the second Stalfos. He ducked underneath the initial sword swipe of the Stalfos and responded with a stab to the skeleton's torso. The sword managed to bite into bones and break some of them, but it did not compromise the skeleton's structural integrity enough to cause it to collapse. The Stalfos then performed another series of attacks on Link, slashing and stabbing at the hero. Link dodged and weaved between the skeleton's attacks and rolled around to the skeleton's rear and performed a Back Slice. The Back Slice was able to inflict enough damage to cause the skeleton to collapse. With both skeletons felled, Link quickly placed a bomb on each skeleton, hoping to destroy the skeletons before they pulled themselves back together. He then backed away and waited for the bombs to explode. Once they detonated, the skeletons were destroyed and the threat was neutralized.

As soon as the Stalfos were destroyed, a golden sparkle of energy came into existence and began to orbit a bare section of the floor in the center of the room. After a few seconds, a large treasure chest materialized in the center of the room where the sparkle of energy had been orbiting. Once the chest had fully appeared, Link went over to the treasure chest and opened it. He then reached inside the chest and pulled out its contents: a single arrow with an orange crystal head with its point in the center for its arrowhead, a bundle of arrows that came with the Fire Arrow, and a quiver. Link grinned. This must have been a Fire Arrow. He quickly put the Fire Arrow and the other arrows into the quiver that came with the arrow and slung it over his back.

Once he was ready, he crossed to the other side of the room, and made his way into a small corridor, which he quickly crossed. He then went through the door at the end of the corridor and entered another stairwell with more ghost paintings. As he entered, he heard a ghostly laugh, indicating that there was another Poe in this stairwell. The ghost in these paintings, however, was the one with the blue torch, as Link saw when the ghost appeared in the painting on the landing. Link spotted the painting on the landing and immediately fired an arrow at it and destroyed it, the painting erupting into magical flames. He then turned around and saw the ghost in the painting behind him. He readied another arrow and fired it at the painting, scoring another direct hit and destroying the painting. He then went down to the landing and turned around to see the final painting. When he saw the painting, he leveled his bow and arrow at it, pulled back on the string, and let fly with his arrow. The arrow struck true and destroyed the painting.

Once the painting was destroyed, the Poe appeared and floated down to the first level. Just as with the first ghost, Link did not want to engage this Poe in close combat so he just sat back with his bow and fired arrow after arrow into the ghost. With each strike, the ghost retreated and waited for a few seconds before coming back to look for Link. The hero did not give it a chance to recover, though, and once it was within range, he would fire again. After three arrows, the ghost was destroyed and the ghost erupted into magical flames. As soon as this happened, the ghost's flame disappeared and the torch the ghost was holding fell to the ground and shattered. The flame then reappeared over the torch at the bottom of the floor. The blue flame then floated down to the braziers and ignited the torch. With the second torch being lit, Link went back into the main room of the temple to wait for Midna to destroy the other two ghosts.

Meanwhile, Midna had been making her way through the temple much more quickly than Link had. She had not encountered any real resistance save for some Big Skulltulas, which she destroyed with contemptuous ease. It was fortunate for Link that his two ghosts were in relatively close proximity and not in any complicated rooms, for Midna had already gone through several twisted rooms. Using her Twilight Magic, though, she was able to float into the air and reach an ornate treasure chest and obtain the key to the boss chamber, wherever that was.

Once she had gotten the key, she went through a hole in the room and managed to arrive in a chamber with a single painting. She fired a blast of magic into the painting and destroyed it, the painting erupting into a green magical flame. Immediately upon the painting's destruction, five blocks fell into the room. Midna saw pieces of the ghost's likeness on the blocks and quickly realized that she had to assemble the image of the ghost. Using her magic, she moved the blocks together to form the ghost's image. The entire process took less than ten seconds to complete.

The moment the ghost's image came together, the ghost appeared in front of Midna and looked around, searching for its target. While it was looking around, Midna extended her hand and a lance of magical energy erupted from it and speared the Poe in the center of its body. The ghost immediately erupted into magical flames and its flame disappeared just before its torch fell to the ground and shattered. The flame then reappeared over the torch near a door and lowered itself into the braziers. Once the torch was ignited, the door unlocked, but Midna did not need to explore the rest of the temple, for she could sense the magic of the fourth ghost. It was inside the main room. She quickly retreated and made her way back to the main room, hoping to arrive soon enough to face the ghost and defeat it.

Back in the main room, Link had emerged back into the main room and saw the Poe with the purple cloak and torch floating among the four torches in the center of the room, three of the torches already having been relit. The moment he stepped out into the main room, he saw a floating purple torch near the four torches in the center of the room. The hero rushed towards the center of the room and the moment he stepped onto the central area that he believed to be more than just a section of floor.

The moment he stepped in between the torches, he saw the fourth Poe appear. The Poe immediately split up into four Poes and surrounded the hero, one of them spinning around. Link knew exactly what he had to do. He would have to identify the real Poe and strike at it while avoiding the clones. He thought back to the spinning Poe and noticed that none of the others had spun and he drew his bow and quickly targeted the one that had spun around. The ghost made no attempt to evade the hero as Link let the arrow fly at the ghost. The arrow struck the ghost and it emitted a cry and the three copies immediately disappeared. The real ghost then disappeared and reappeared, forming three other copies. The ghosts then floated around Link with one of them spinning around once, showing Link who the real ghost was. Link readied his bow again and fired on the ghost, inflicting more damage to it. The ghost recoiled from the hit and the copies disappeared a moment before the ghost vanished for a second and then reappeared, forming three more copies and levitating around Link. Link saw one of the ghosts spin around once and he fired another arrow at the ghost, inflicting more damage to the spirit. The ghost then vanished and soon reappeared, splitting itself into three other clones. The ghost spun around once and Link targeted the ghost, firing another arrow at it. Upon taking the fourth hit, the ghost was finally defeated. The ghost erupted into magical flames, and the purple flame vanished as the torch it was holding fell to the floor and broke. The flame then reconstituted itself above the fourth unlit torch and then settled into the braziers, lighting the fourth and final torch.

During the battle with the Poe, Midna returned to the main room and watched as Link had defeated the ghost. She rushed down to him as the purple flame settled into its torch and the four torches were lit. Immediately upon the four torches lighting, a crack in the floor formed around the formation of torches and that section of the floor was revealed to be an elevator that sank into the floor and took the duo to the basement of the temple. The duo rode the lift down to the basement and when it came to a rest, the duo stepped off of the lift and proceeded to examine the room.

The room they appeared in seemed strange, for they were inside of a circular room that had concrete walls, a block jutting out from them, but also apparently two openings. Link knew that the block jutting out from the wall likely had something to do with solving this puzzle and he proceeded to make his way over to it and pushed against it. Sure enough, a mechanism activated after he had pushed hard enough and the circular walls began to move. After a few seconds, it stopped and the two openings in the wall revealed small alcoves that contained treasures of some sort. Link went through one of the openings and he found a series of treasure chests. After opening the chests, he pulled out their contents, which consisted of Rupees and bundles of arrows that he put inside his quiver. He then crossed over to the next alcove and found a floor switch. He stepped on it and he then heard a chime and the grinding of gears as something retracted in another alcove. He then left the alcove and pushed the block and rotated the room again. Once the rotation had stopped, he saw a clear path to the boss chamber. The lock looked like a golden monster head with horns. Link and Midna approached the door and the Twili took out the boss key that she had obtained in her travels, stuck it in the slot, and turned. The lock came loose and fell the floor and the chains retracted. The door then opened, granting them access to the boss's chamber. The duo headed through the door and steeled themselves for the battle that would await them.

When the duo entered the door, they found themselves inside a spiraling stairwell that led upwards. The stairwell was narrow, only allowing them to pass by single file. After a brief climb up the stairs, they came to the top and entered a room full of paintings of the same dark and eerie landscape. Sitting in front of them, though, was a structure that resembled a bulb made out of energy. The structure was not that much taller than Midna, but it was sending a beam of energy straight into the ceiling. The two figured that this was the barrier that they needed to destroy. Link immediately pulled out the Light Arrow along with another arrow. He stuck the other arrow into the crystal at the end of the Light Arrow and powered it up with the Light. He then notched it to his bow and pulled back on the string. He then let fly with the arrow and it pieced the barrier right in the center. The arrow exploded in a shower of golden light and the barrier soon followed suit, shattering into thousands of sparkles of energy. Once the barrier was destroyed, Midna and Link glanced at each other curiously. They had expected destroying the barrier to be more difficult. "Did this seem a little too easy to you?"

Link nodded. They then turned back to depart the temple when a series of bars rose up, barring their way. "Going somewhere?" they heard a voice behind them ask.

They turned around and saw a Hylian man dressed in green and brown armor and armed with a sword and shield. It was clear that the Hylian was a noble, and the Dark Sage of Forest. The noble grinned at them. "I must congratulate you on making it this far and destroying the barrier. But I must say that your journey ends here."

"You're a fool," Midna blurted. "You could have at least tried to stop us from destroying the barrier and if you were going for a sneak attack, you missed your chance."

The Twili woman's outburst only caused the Dark Sage to laugh. "I assure you that you're no match for me. It doesn't matter what happens to this barrier. You're the only ones that are a threat and you'll be dead within seconds."

Just as the Sage had made that statement, though, a massive spiked ball emerged from one of the paintings and struck him in the back, sending him flying. Link and Midna parted, allowing the noble to fly past them, crashing into the wall. They continued to move as the ball retracted and then rose into the air. It then crashed down upon the stunned noble who was struggling to rise and crushed him, killing the Sage with a single blow. The duo turned back and saw an armored figure standing before them. The figure wore golden armor and had a pointed helmet. The figure was armed with a spiked ball and chain. He did not look like any soldier of Hyrule. "So, you're the one who killed Veran," the soldier said in a deep voice, focusing his gaze on Link. "I've heard a lot about you recently."

"Who are you?" Midna asked.

"I am Onox, the General of Darkness," the soldier answered. "I once worked with Twinrova to assist Ganon in destroying Hyrule. However, upon his destruction and the fall of Hyrule, I have wandered the world, settling down in Faron Province. Now, I have taken control of the Forest Temple and will use it as my base of operations in order to launch against Hyrule and its current leadership." Onox then laughed. "Unfortunately, you're a thorn in my side and I will have to deal with the two of you before I continue with my plan. As such, you will now die."

He then gripped his ball and chain and lifted it up above his head, swinging it around. He then slowly approached Link and prepared to hurl the ball at him. "Cover me, Midna," Link told his companion. "I'll deal with him up close."

"You'll have to reach me, first," Onox called.

Onox then tossed the ball towards Link, causing the hero to jump to his right in order to avoid the ball, allowing it to sail past him. He then rushed towards Onox and drew the Master Sword. Once he arrived, he slashed at the general, his sword biting into the armor. The sword did not manage to bite into the general's flesh, but the magical armor still had difficulty dealing with the power of the Master Sword. However, Link did not like the lack of real damage done to Onox, so he decided to perform a spin attack. The red energy wave spread out from the sword as Link performed the attack and it scored a direct hit on Onox. This energy wave managed to inflict greater damage on Onox, penetrating the armor and inflicting real damage on Onox. While the Master Sword was recharging in order for Link to perform another spin attack, he continued to slash at Onox, pushing the massive armored general back further.

Onox launched another attack on Link, but the hero easily managed to avoid the spiked ball. Link responded with a spin attack and inflicted even more damage to Onox. Onox's armor was beginning to look ragged, numerous rends marring its surface. The general would not last much longer if things continued the way they were. Link continued to slash at Onox, inflicting more damage to the general. When the Master Sword had fully recharged once more, Link performed one more spin attack, the red energy wave striking Onox's armor. This final attack was sufficient to push General Onox back and finish this stage of the fight. The general staggered backwards and fell to the ground. "You're good," the general sputtered. "You're far stronger than either of the Links that I had encountered before the flood." The general then rose, though, despite the fact that his armor was only holding on by a thread.

The general's armor soon fell off Onox's body and revealed that there was no body underneath. For a fleeting instant, Link and Midna wondered if Onox was actually defeated. Their question was answered when a large serpentine dragon with segmented arms and small wings reappeared right above the broken armor. The dragon also had a noticeable red jewel in the middle of its forehead. "To think that a hero without any magic would force me to use my Dark Dragon form. I must commend you on your skill. However, this is where it ends."

Onox then flapped his wings and ascended into the air. Link knew that he would never reach Onox's weakness as long as he was in the sky and he immediately drew his bow and arrow. Readying a Bomb Arrow, he pulled back on the string and targeted Onox. Onox, however, launched his attack on Link by unleashing a barrage of fireballs at the hero. Link quickly drew his Mirror Shield and held it up in front of him, intercepting Onox's fireball barrage. The fireballs struck the shield and were reflected back at the dragon but did not inflict any damage on him.

Once the barrage ended, Link picked up his bow and Bomb Arrow and targeted the red jewel in the middle of Onox's forehead. He pulled back on the bowstring and then let fly with the Bomb Arrow. The arrow streaked towards Onox's jewel and scored a direct hit on the dragon's jewel and exploded. However, the Bomb Arrow's explosion inflicted no damage to Onox. The dragon merely laughed. "Did you really think that a Bomb Arrow would hurt me if my own reflected attack did nothing?"

What Onox did not notice, or care about, was the fact that Midna had been watching the battle and had decided to get involved. She quickly summoned the Fused Shadows and used them to transform into her spider-like beast form. As Onox unleashed another volley of fireballs on Link, causing him to raise his shield in order to protect himself, Midna leapt towards the Dark Dragon and thrust her Twilight Spear into the jewel in the middle of the dragon's forehead. The spear pierced the jewel and Onox unleashed a terrible cry of pain. He immediately fell from the air and crashed on the floor, Link backing away a few steps from the falling dragon. The dragon crashed onto the ground and writhed on the ground in agony.

Seeing his chance, Link drew the Master Sword and rushed Onox. He then jumped into the air and reversed his sword grip. He then thrust the sword into the damaged jewel. The sword bit into the jewel and vanished into the dragon's head. Onox's eyes went wide with pain for an instant before he fell to the ground, a light emanating from the destroyed jewel. Link jumped off of Onox as the dragon and backed away as Onox lifted his head and gazed at the hero. "A…ma…zing," the dragon stammered. "To be beaten this easily. Unbelievable."

Onox then fell to the ground and erupted into a magical flame. The flame continued to burn and consume the body of Onox until there was no trace of the dragon left. After the dragon's body was destroyed, there was a pillar of light placed on the ground and a Heart Container. As the pillar of light appeared, it was accompanied by a high-pitched ringing sound. Link and Midna quickly went over to the Heart Container and the hero picked it up, feeling completely rejuvenated upon picking it up. Once he had picked it up, he then stepped into the pillar of light. The light then surrounded Link and Midna and encased them in a crystal. The pitch of the ringing increased and the pillar lifted them out of the temple, the duo vanishing from the temple.

The duo reappeared in the Temple of Light's Chamber of Sages as the pillar of light deposited them in the center of the chamber. Looking at the Forest Pillar, another pillar of light formed and the two heroes could see Saria rising from the light. Saria stared at the Hylian hero and his Twili companion and smiled. As Link saw her standing on the symbol, he was not surprised at the fact that Saria turned out to be Sage. She faced him and smiled. "I note that you are not surprised by this turn of events. Yes, as it turns out, I am now the Sage of the Forest." She then paused for a moment before continuing, "Indeed, your quest to save Hyrule is far from over. While the Temple of Light and both Temples of Time were never held under the power of the Hyrulean Royal Family, the other temples were. You will need to destroy the barriers in the Fire Temple, Water Temple, Shadow Temple, and Spirit Temple in order to destroy the barrier over Hyrule Castle and be able to reach the evil Link and Zelda. Be warned, though, the destruction of the Forest Barrier will almost certainly be detected by the Royal Family and, as such, they will take precautions at their other bases."

Saria then bowed and motioned for them to turn to face the Light Pillar. They did so and saw that Rauru had already arrived. He looked at the heroes, his face beaming with pride. "You are the heroes that Hyrule so desperately needs right now. You have already defeated Prince Daphnes, Princess Tetra, and have helped save Zora's Domain from Hyrulean invasion and also given Ordona Province a fighting chance, too, crippling the home forces of the Hyrulean military. However, as Saria has told you, your quest is far from over. You will need to take down the other barriers in order to weaken the barrier over Hyrule Castle to the point where our combined strength can destroy it. The closest barrier is going to be the Water Barrier in the Water Temple below Lake Hylia. It is also a convenient stop because the temple houses a great treasure that will be essential on your journey. It houses one of the two Elemental Magical Arrows, the Ice Arrow. The Elemental Magical Arrows will be essential for your quest later on. They will not only be useful for completing your quest, but will also be effective weapons in dealing with the Knights of Hyrule. I recommend that you get them as quickly as possible."

"We've already got the Fire Arrows," Link volunteered, prompting Rauru to smile.

"Since Hyrule is still flooded, you'll need a map to guide you to the location where Lake Hylia once was," Saria stated.

The Kokiri girl held up her hands and a green ball of energy formed in them. She then pointed her hands towards Link and the ball of energy levitated over to him. When the ball was above the hero's head, a brilliant green light flooded the chamber for a brief second and then the chamber's lighting returned to normal. In the place of the green ball of energy was a scroll that was floating down to him. He reached up and grabbed the scroll, bringing it down and opening it. It was a map of the Great Sea overlaying a map of Hyrule as of just before the flood. Link grinned. This was exactly what he needed. This map would make navigating the Great Sea that much easier.

"Since the Water Temple is deep beneath Lake Hylia, it should be relatively devoid of any Hyrulean military activity, save for any ships that may be keeping watch over it from the surface," Rauru added. "Still, be on your guard. This temple is much like the Lakebed Temple you went through on your last adventure, but the layout is currently different. In addition, the temple had a strong connection to the Hyrulean Royal Family. In order to navigate it, you will need to learn a song that can be played on the Ocarina of Time."

Rauru waited for Link to take out the ocarina and prepare to play it. Once Link was ready, Rauru told him, "Listen to this song and keep its memory emblazoned in your mind."

Link nodded as Rauru whistled a short series of notes. Much like with the Song of Time, Link could have sworn that he had heard the song before. It was also not dissimilar to a song that Midna knew.

"That's a lot like the Song of Twilight," she noted.

"Ironically, the Song of Twilight is part of a greater Light World song called the Ballad of The Goddess," Rauru explained. "Or would be if it was not played at a different octave. It also has a much different feel than the Song of Twilight."

Link played back the song taught to him by Rauru and once he did so, he saw Rauru nod and smile. "This song is called Zelda's Lullaby," he informed the hero. "It was composed as a secret password for members of the Royal Family and their friends to identify each other in times of distress. Use it wisely and don't play it nonchalantly. It is said that the Royal Family can hear the song when it is played, so if you play it without regard to its power, they could either find you, or see that you know it and are using it and cut its power from you since the Royal Family _does_ have that power."

Link nodded and Midna simply stood behind him, listening to Rauru's directions and suggestions. Once Rauru was finished, Link and Midna saw a pillar of light form around them once more and they began to rise into the air. Saria wished them luck as the pillar of light encapsulated them in a blue crystal once more and rose into the air. As they were rising, they heard Saria tell them, "Now I know why you remind me of him. You are so much like the Hero of Time." The Chamber of Sages then disappeared from Link's sight and the heroes were taken back to Faron Province.

The pillar of light deposited Link and Midna right before the Great Deku Tree. It was still night as they could hear the owls hooting and the other nocturnal animals making calls. They stared at the Great Deku Tree, who looked to be asleep. The tree looked perfectly healthy to them and they were relieved that the tree looked to be on the mend. Wasting no time, the duo left the presence of the Great Deku Tree and entered Kokiri Forest. They quickly made their way through the village, being careful to not awaken any of the inhabitants. They crossed the village and quickly found the tunnel that provided the exit to the village. Before the reached it, though, they heard someone land behind them. Turning around, they saw Impa and Nabooru standing before them, looking at them closely. Eventually, they both smiled. "You're Link," they said in unison.

Link nodded.

"But I don't recognize your companion," the Sheikah continued.

"I'm Midna," the former Twilight Queen answered. "I'm a friend of Link's. You may remember my spider-like form. I hear that I have been called the 'Dark Woman' by the armies of Hyrule. My goal is the same as yours and Link's, the defeat of King Nohansen and the Royal Family of Hyrule."

Nabooru studied Midna as she spoke but found no sign of deceit in her voice or in how she carried herself. She then looked over at Impa and nodded, indicating that she knew believed Midna. They then stepped aside to let them go back to their ship. Before they left, Nabooru cautioned them, saying, "Be careful out on the sea. There are plenty of pirates and brigands patrolling the high seas now that Hyrule has taken a hit to their military. The failed attack on Zora's Domain may be giving hope to rebels, but it is also emboldening pirates and thieves as well. Be alert."

"We will be," Link answered as he and Midna quickly made their way across the bridge and made their way to the docks so they could board their ship and head towards their next destination.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21:

The trip back to their ship was uneventful and when they arrived, they quickly boarded it and prepared to depart Faron Province. Link made his way into the command cockpit while Midna stood behind him, ready to assist him when he called. He placed his new map over the old one that he had been using. The new map was wondrous, for it had the locations of multiple supply depots and fuel depots for merchant vessels. It also had standard patrol routes for Hyrulean warships marked, as well as locations for naval stations and bases. He could see some dots moving on the map, indicating that the map was magical and that it gave him real time information regarding ship movements. With this, he would be able to avoid roving patrols. He also made a mental note to stay well away from the naval stations so that they would not be searched or worse, discovered.

Once they were ready, Link powered up the engine and proceeded to direct the ship away from the docks. Making his way out of the small harbor and out into the open sea, he carefully studied the map and plotted a course for Lake Hylia. Using the arrow on the map that represented his ship, he turned the ship to the northwest and proceeded to set the throttle to full. The ship lurched forward slightly as it began its trek towards the area that had once been Lake Hylia.

Along the way, Link carefully studied the map to avoid any patrols or any stray warships or pirate vessels that may have spotted his own. While the map was able to spot and identify normal ships easily enough, even the metallic ships, the map had more difficulty spotting submarines at long distances. Oftentimes, a submarine would only pop up on the map once the ship was almost directly on top of it, often forcing Link to perform evasive maneuvers so as to avoid either being spotted or avoid colliding with said submarine. For once in his life, Link had hoped that the submarines belonged to pirates or to other forces that were not allied with Hyrule, for the last thing he wanted was to be drawn into an engagement against a Hyrulean naval vessel that could risk identifying his ship as a potential threat. Fortunately, the submarines had other things on their minds and did not engage his small ship in battle or decide that his ship was a tempting target.

Not too far away from the initial group of submarines, though, another submarine came up to greet Link's ship. This one, however, had far more malevolent intentions. It began by surfacing just enough for it to deploy a cannon and open fire on Link's ship. Link immediately performed evasive maneuvers, the ship turning sharply to its port and the cannonball that issued forth from the enemy submarine's barrel missed the small ship by mere inches, landing right in front of the ship. Both Link and Midna grimaced. This submarine was either a bad pirate or it was military, for it was obvious that it was aiming for the ship's waterline.

Link and Midna wasted no time in returning fire. The former Twilight Queen rushed down to the gun deck and opened the starboard gun ports. Using her magical telekinesis, she loaded the cannons and pushed them out so that the barrels were jutting just outside the ports. She then lit the fuses and the cannons fired on the submarines, hurling explosive cannonballs at the mostly submerged vessel. The cannonballs scored direct hits on the submarine, the first ball piercing the hull of the submarine close to the waterline but not right on it, creating a relatively small hole, though both Link and Midna strongly suspected that the cannonball may still have been lit and was waiting to explode. The second cannonball, however, struck the waterline and exploded on impact, blowing a massive hole into the side of the vessel. Water did not even have a chance to flood into the hole, for the detonation of the first cannonball must have ignited the powder in the second cannonball, for there was a massive secondary explosion from inside the vessel. The submarine was instantly blown apart, wood being ejected in all directions, large splinters and other pieces of wood pelting the metal hull of Link's ship. What was left of the submarine quickly submerged beneath the waves never to rise again. With the submarine having been dealt with, Link and Midna continued towards Lake Hylia.

A couple of hours later, the ship neared the coordinates that the map indicated was the location of Lake Hylia. At the bottom of the lake was the entrance to the Water Temple. The first thing Link did was finger the Ocarina of Time, for he knew that he would need the Song of Time to reach the Water Temple without being frozen in stasis. He took one last look at the map before getting ready to make the dive beneath the waves. It was fortunate that he did, for the map showed two dots inside the area that had been marked as Lake Hylia. Even more, the dots did not seem to move that much, indicating that their patrol route was very small. Link grimaced. They must have been Hyrulean warships. Judging by their sizes, they must have been warships that he had heard termed as Man-of-Wars. He quickly went below deck to check his arsenal and make sure that the ship's primary cannon was loaded with heavy anti-ship rockets that he had taken from the supply depot on his way to Ordona Province. Once he was certain that everything was ready in case the worst-case scenario occurred, he made his way back up to the bridge.

Once there, he guided his ship towards Lake Hylia, keeping an eye on the map as he did so. When he felt that he was getting close, he looked over to Midna and said, "Take the wheel. I'm going above deck to find those two warships near the lake."

Midna nodded as Link rose to let her take the station. He then went up the stairs in the back of the bridge and went to the top of the second level. Once he was above deck, he put on his Hawkeye so he could scan the horizon for any signs of ships or other enemy activity. He swept his gaze out across the ocean, finding little in the form of pirate activity or even merchant activity. Pirates must have known about the two ships and there was nowhere and no one for merchants to sell their supplies out in the middle of the Great Sea. In addition, Lake Hylia was off the normal trade routes.

Soon, Link spotted the two ships that he had seen on the map. Even with the aid of the Hawkeye, at this distance, they were nothing more than little dots on the horizon. He continued to focus on the ships as his own ship began to approach theirs. After a couple minutes, Link managed to get a better picture of the ships. They were clearly man-of-wars. They looked large enough to have four gun decks, each. The only good thing about these ships was that they were made of wood so the anti-ship rockets that Link's ship carried would likely be able to take them down in single hits. Raising his gaze, he could clearly see the flag of the Hyrulean Navy billowing in the wind on top of the mast. Looking back onto the deck, he saw a Hylian man dressed in a naval uniform standing near the wheel. It was clear that this man was a noble. Link gazed at the other ship and saw that the captain looked to simply be a normal captain, though his uniform was still decorated with numerous medals. He then swept his gaze downward towards the rest of the lake area and spotted two small patrol boats and several small submarines, their tops poking out of the water and their wakes giving away their presence. The patrol boats and submarines were made out of metal, but that was of no concern of Link's. His rockets were more than strong enough to sink small ships with single hits, even if they were made of metal. Still, this told Link all that the needed to know. The area he was approaching was surely Lake Hylia, and Hyrule almost certainly had a presence in the temple.

He quickly took off his Hawkeye and returned to the control station on the bridge's first level. Hearing him coming down the stairs, Midna looked over at him and asked, "What are we facing once we get to Lake Hylia?"

"A small fleet," Link answered. "Hyrule has two capital ships I've heard referred to as man-of-wars, two metallic patrol boats, and four submarines."

"Can this ship deal with them?" the Twili asked.

"We should if the patrol boats don't have anti-ship rockets," the hero answered. "We'll be going through our missile arsenal pretty quickly, though."

That did not concern Midna too greatly, though. Link, on the other hand, quickly took his seat and made certain to check the locations for any supply depots between Lake Hylia and Kakariko Island. His main concern was the fact that with the sinking of Hyrule Castle Island, that Kakariko Island would be the new capital of Hyrule at least for the nobility while Link and Zelda hid inside the flooded Hyrule Castle. That would mean that there would be a strong military presence near the island, and of Link and Midna wanted to reach it, they may have to fight their way in, something that would be difficult at best.

As they approached the lake, Link went back out onto the bridge's deck to check the positions of the Hyrulean ships patrolling the area. When he put on his Hawkeye, he could already see them turning to come towards him, the patrol boats and submarines quickly making their way towards his small ship. Not only that, but he clearly saw the ships already deploying their cannons, with the man-of-wars already turning so as to present their broadside guns to Link's ship. Link grimaced. Either they were taking no chances whatsoever, or they had already identified his ship as an enemy vessel.

He took off his Hawkeye and returned to the bridge's command station. Looking out the window, he saw a puff of smoke rise from one of the patrol boats. A few seconds later, there was a large splash a few dozen yards off the starboard bow. Their hostile intentions were now obvious. Link felt not guilt with what he was about to do. He quickly deployed his ship's main cannon, not wanting to waste time with these ships and submarines. Midna also stood up and prepared to raise a shield around the ship if necessary. Once the cannon was deployed, Link targeted the closest ship first and pushed the red button that would launch the missile. Flames erupted from the rear of the cannon and the missile leapt out of the launch tube. It streaked over the ocean until it found its mark, the nearest patrol boat that fired another shot at Link's ship. Midna cast a spell that diverted the projectile off course, causing it to splash fifty yards away from the ship. Nothing fooled Link's projectile, though. The missile crashed into the deck of the patrol boat and detonated, blowing the ship apart. Metal and wood fragments were sent flying all around the ocean. Marines on the other patrol boat had to duck for cover to avoid being skewered by the shrapnel.

The autoloaders then loaded another missile to Link's cannon and the hero fired off another missile at the approaching task force. This time, it was a submarine that was obliterated. The missile had struck the submarine on the top part of the vessel before it had fully surfaced in order to expose its guns or fire any torpedoes. The two remaining small ships met the same fate. Two rockets were enough to sink the remaining boats. Once the smaller ships had been dealt with, Link focused his attention on the two man-of-wars.

Puffs of smoke rose from the sides of the hulls of the two large ships of the line, prompting Midna to use her magic to cast aside the cannonballs. Several of the balls splashed into the water in front of the ship, while others were forced to the side and splashed harmlessly a dozen yards away. Midna's expression, however, indicated that she had not managed to send all of the balls off course and that they had gotten lucky with a few of them. Those misses were too close for Link's comfort. If the ship opened fire again and Midna was unable to divert all of the cannonballs, his ship would take significant damage from a hit. He quickly focused on sinking the nearest of the man-of-wars. Adjusting the cannon's aim, he waited to get a positive bead on the large warship before sending an anti-ship rocket its way. The rocket streaked from the cannon and crossed the distance between ships in a couple of seconds. The rocket slammed into the side of the man-of-war and detonated. The explosion tore the ship in half, the two halves quickly sinking beneath the waves. The crewmembers that were not killed in the initial explosion attempted to escape the sinking halves of the ship, most of them being unsuccessful and going down with said ship. Others managed to make it to water, but would be unable to swim due to their armor. Link then zeroed in on the other man-of-war and let loose with another rocket. The second warship soon met the same fate as the first one. The rocket slammed into its hull and initially split it in half. However, the fire from the explosion must have set off the powder magazine, for both halves quickly exploded, shattering the remains of the ship. With the warships out of the way, Link's ship made its way towards the center of the Lake Hylia area.

When his ship arrived, Link went to a back room to change into his Zora Armor, knowing that he would need the armor in order to explore the Water Temple. Midna extended her magical senses to search for any survivors of the destruction of the large warships. She magically directed the few survivors to swim far away from Link's ship, not wanting them to be able to pilot it so they could get back to Hyrule, or sink it out of spite. Casting an illusion of a large ship in the distance, the survivors swam away in the opposite direction. She hoped that it would be enough that by the time they realized that they were merely seeing an illusion, that they would be too tired to swim back and search for their small ship. She frowned as she cast the illusion, though. Despite the blood shed during her last adventure with Link and the soldiers that she had killed when she had appeared ten years ago just before the flooding of Hyrule, she did not relish the taking of life. She also strongly suspected that not all of the soldiers that died were as evil as the evil Link, Zelda, and King Nohansen. In fact, she knew that some of them were not actually evil at all, merely serving an evil regime. She then hardened her being at the last sentiment. There was always a choice as to serve a regime that was good or evil. They were not being mind controlled. In the end, that was what made it more bearable for her, and likely for Link as well. The rebellion was no secret, nor was the evil of the current Hyrule's rulers. There was no excuse for them. They had every opportunity to rebel or simply walk away.

Once Midna was finished her musing, she turned and saw Link emerge from the back room in his full Zora Armor. Once he emerged, he also took out the Ocarina of Time and asked her, "Can you sense if the stasis field is active beneath Lake Hylia?"

Midna's eyes flashed with surprise for an instant. She had been so focused on the mission and dealing with the ships that she had not even considered the fact that the stasis field may have extended out to Lake Hylia. She now began to wonder if the Gorons of Death Mountain might have been trapped in stasis as well. She shook off the thought and closed her eyes. She then magically scanned the area beneath the water to see if she could sense anything out of the ordinary. It was fortunate that Link had asked the question in the first place, for she did, indeed, sense the presence of the stasis barrier. She looked over at Link and nodded. "It's there."

Link gave a sigh and told her, "You should hide in my shadow. That way we can be sure the Song of Time will protect both of us."

Midna nodded and faded into the hero's shadow. Link then put the ocarina to his lips and played the Song of Time. Once he was finished, he waited to see if he could feel any magical sensations come over him. He felt nothing but that did not surprise him. He had felt no different after Tetra had played the Song of Time to allow him to reach the flooded Temple of Time. Once he was ready, he went over to the ship's ignition and turned it off, not wanting anyone to be able to steal the ship while he and Midna were away. He then pulled the key out of the ignition and put it in his pocket. Once he was ready, he made his way to the edge of the ship and jumped into the water.

When he jumped into the water, he promptly let himself sink to the bottom, scanning his surroundings as he descended into the depths of both the Great Sea and Lake Hylia. Surprisingly, the first thing he encountered on his descent was a school of fish, not the Skullfish that had plagued the Great Sea above the Temple of Time and Hyrule Castle Town. The fish parted as he descended into their midst. As he continued his descent, he scanned his surroundings. He recognized several of the landmarks of Lake Hylia from his previous visits, such as the Great Bridge of Hylia, but others were completely alien to him. This was likely both due to the fact that there was no Zora's River feeding into the lake as well as the fact that there had been new structures built in the intervening years between his last visit.

As he continued his descent, he began to search for any signs of enemy activity, as well as the potential location of the Water Temple's entrance. A few other concerns also entered his mind as he began to wonder that if the temple was trapped inside the stasis field, that if the entrance was closed, whether it could be opened or not. He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that he would find out fairly quickly as to whether or not he would be able to enter the temple.

He soon felt himself pass through the stasis field and the scene froze before him as he continued his descent. After a bit, he managed landed on the lake floor and glanced around to get his bearings. He swam around and searched for the location of the temple, scanning for any caverns or metallic walls or grates that would indicate an entrance. Sure enough, he found one near the center of what had once been Lake Hylia. He saw a metal sheet lying on the ground with a blue symbol on it, likely the symbol for the Water Medallion. Above the symbol was a grate and a diamond-shaped metal target that looked like it could be moved by a weapon of some sort. Feeling that the Clawshot would do the trick, Link pulled out the grappling claw and fired it at the target. When the claw struck the metal target, a metallic chime rang out around the lake and Link saw the target float up from its initial position. Bubbles issued forth from the bottom of the gate and the metallic gate began to rise, allowing water to flow into the temple. Link smiled as it seemed as if he was still able to affect things in the stasis field in real time. He chalked it up as being an ability of the Ocarina of Time. With the entrance to the temple open, Link walked on in.

The hero came to the end of the walkway and immediately swam up the small passage and emerged near a stone ledge. Pulling himself up onto the ledge, he then walked forward and entered the temple, proper. Stepping out onto the stone ledge, he gazed out over the temple. There was a stone tower in the center of a large pool of water. Gazing at the stone tower, he found several platforms on each side, some stone targets on the walls of the tower, as well as several Blue Tektites standing on the stone ledge that surrounded the tower. Stepping to the edge of the ledge, Link looked into the pool and spotted several spiked balls that seemed to be floating on the bottom of the deep pool.

Midna emerged from Link's shadow and gazed at the scenery. Scanning the area, Midna suggested, "Remain here for a bit. I'll scout the temple to see if there is easy access to the boss chamber."

Link nodded and remained on the ledge, drawing out his bow in case the Tektites got the bright idea to try to cross the water and attack. As for Midna, she floated over to a passage on her right and found a water-filled hole. Extending her senses, she detected a stone block beneath the water, blocking a passageway. Taking a deep breath, she jumped into the water and swam down the hole and to the block. She then returned the way she came and returned to ledge Link was standing on.

Once she returned, she made her report to Link. "A passage on the third floor has opened up. As I was returning, I also scanned the rest of the temple as well. There is a treasure chest in the room below as well as another one in another room not too far away. I could not sense what was inside them, though. I also sensed that the room with the Dark Sage and a creature, likely a slave beast or guardian, was locked and we would need a key in order to get in."

"Any sign of any magical arrows in the dungeon?" Link asked. "I remember Rauru saying that the Water Temple had them."

"There is a lot of magic flowing in this temple," Midna answered. "If this temple has magical weapons, they could be hidden in one of the tunnels or rooms beyond."

Link nodded and then went to work. Midna returned to the hero's shadow as Link swam to the passage that Midna had floated to. The Tektite tried to follow, jumping off of the ledge and into the water, but Link was too quick not having much to do on the surface, he descended a few feet, safe from the Tektite. As he descended, he saw a passage below the other one. This must have been the passage that Midna had mentioned earlier. Swimming through, Link encountered several small, black manta ray-like monsters called Stingers. Drawing out his Clawshots, he landed on the floor and picked them off as they swam towards him, one hit being more than enough to destroy the monsters. With the Stingers having been dealt with, Link continued through the corridor.

Coming to the end of the corridor, the hero looked up and found more of those stone targets that he had seen on the central tower. Seeing that one of them looked to be over a ledge, Link fired his Clawshot up at it, the claw digging into the stone and the chain pulling him up. When he arrived on the ledge, he looked around the room and saw a crystal switch standing right next to him, along with a wall of water that encapsulated a treasure chest. Knowing that switch controlled the water, Link drew out the Master Sword and struck the switch with it. The moment he did so, there was a clear ringing sound along with a click. The water immediately receded, granting the hero access to the treasure chest. However, there was also a quick ticking sound and as he headed over to the chest the switch clicked once more and the water returned before Link could reach the chest.

Knowing that he would have to strike the switch from a distance, Link approached the chest and drew out his Clawshot once more. Taking aim at the switch, he pulled the Clawshot's trigger and let the claw shoot from the launcher. The claw struck the switch and the water level receded once more, granting Link access to the treasure. This time, since Link was right next to the chest, he managed to open it before the switch deactivated. The moment the chest opened, the switch was water was locked into its off position and Link was free to grab the chest's contents. Reaching inside, he found two chain extensions for his Clawshots. He was surprised at the find but did not ask questions as he worked them into his existing Clawshots. Once he was ready, he retreated the way he came, going back down the hole in the floor and swimming back to the central chamber.

After returning to the central chamber, he floated down to the temple's bottom floor, landing softly on the sandy floor. As he landed, he spotted two Spiked Balls floating towards him. Drawing out his Clawshots, he targeted the two Spiked Balls and fired. The claws leapt from their launchers and struck the spikes of the balls, forcing the spikes to retract and the balls to sink to the bottom. The hero was not finished, though, as he quickly drew his sword and finished off the balls with two swift slashes.

With the Spiked Balls having been dealt with, Link scanned the area and found an open door lined with yellow arrows, flanked by two torches. The hero entered the passage and followed it until it opened up into a small room with two pots and a door with silver bars over it. At first, it appeared to be a dead end until he looked up and saw a hole in the ceiling. Having no other ideas, he floated on up through the ceiling, letting himself ascend through the passage. As he floated up, he scanned his surroundings, trying to make sure that he took in everything that was important. As he floated up, he found a cracked wall on a ledge that he figured would be important. He considered stepping onto the ledge in order to break the wall with a Water Bomb, but he figured that it was best to see where the passage he was in took him first before doing any extra exploration.

Eventually, Link reached the top of the passage, surfacing in a room with a ledge and a door not far away. Pulling himself up onto the ledge he then went through the door. In the next room, he encountered two Knights of Hyrule waiting for him. The moment they saw him, they looked at him questioningly, cocking their heads. They obviously recognized his hood but they did not recognize the armor that he was wearing. Despite that it looked to be ornate, they must have known that he did not have such armor for traveling through water. He suspected that they were expecting him to wear a Zora Tunic. Eventually, though, the snapped to attention and said, "Greetings Lord Link. We were not expecting you."

"You seem to have upgraded your armor," another noted.

Link nodded, not daring to say anything on the off chance that they knew what the evil Link sounded like. When he did not say anything, they looked at him questioningly again and asked, "May I ask what you are doing here?"

Again, Link did not respond, not wanting to potentially expose his true identity. Still, he knew that speaking may be unavoidable so he eventually did respond. "I am here to make sure that everything is running smoothly."

"As far as I know, it is," the first Knight answered. "Why would it not be?"

"I'm just here to make sure that everything is okay. With Daphnes dead, I wanted to make sure that the Dark Sages know who is in charge so they don't get any bright ideas by siding with any nobles that may be trying to carve out any fiefdoms while King Nohansen is in the Mushroom Kingdom."

The Knights then tensed up and asked, "How would you know that, sire?"

"He told me," Link answered sternly.

The answer took the Knights aback but they still seemed a little suspicious. "Draw your sword, sire," the second Knight commanded. "If we are wrong, you may slay us."

Now Link knew that battle was likely unavoidable. He studied their armor and tried to ascertain whether or not the Master Sword would be able to but through their armor. He suspected that it could but that it would be difficult. The Megaton Hammer would be a better weapon for dealing with them. Still, he did his best to avoid the fight. He decided to draw the Master Sword and hope that they did not recognize the blade. He reached back and drew his sword, showing it to them.

When they saw the sword, they stepped back and drew their own halberds, crying, "It's the Master Sword! He's the Hero! Kill him!"

With that, the two Knights went on the offensive and thrust their halberds towards the hero. Link was faster, though, and managed to evade their thrusts. He retaliated by performing a Spin Attack. Since he was fully healthy, the sword released a fiery red wave of energy. The energy wave sliced through the Knights' armor and bisected them. Link then finished off the Knights with a stab to the heart, just to make sure that they were dead.

With the Knights having been dealt with, a sparkle of energy formed in the room and began an orbit around an invisible object. The object soon became visible, revealed to be a large treasure chest. Link grinned. Large treasure chests usually meant important treasures were held inside. He went over to the chest and opened it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a scroll and what looked to be a compass. Unrolling the scroll, he discovered that it was the map of the Water Temple. Checking the map, he saw the locations of several important treasures marked and he also saw the location of the Boss Chamber. Rolling the map back up, he put it away and exited the room.

When he exited the room, he saw a Triforce symbol on the wall. Remembering what Impa said about Zelda's Lullaby, he figured that this was the spot where he would have to use the song, likely to control the temple's water level. He drew out his ocarina but before he played it, Midna appeared next to him and said, "Wait!"

He turned to her and asked, "What is it?"

"Take out that map once more," she directed.

He did so and opened it. She came over to Link and studied the map from over his shoulder. She quickly noticed that the west wing of Floor Three led to an important treasure, something that she was quick to point out to Link.

"Link, I think we found the Ice Arrows," she told him, pointing to the treasure chest mark on the map.

Link studied the map and nodded in agreement. "I do think you're right."

They then took another look at the map and spotted the treasure chest marking the Boss Key that led to the Boss Chamber.

"And that's the Boss chamber," Midna added.

Link gazed at the map and was quick to notice that it would take some time for them to get both the Ice Arrows and the Boss Key, for he doubted that either would be left unguarded. "It will take some time for us to get both of the items," Link noted.

"Time that would allow either the Hyrulean Navy to spot our ship or give the Dark Sage extra time to prepare," Midna added, agreeing with Link.

"We could split up," the hero suggested. "I could get the Ice Arrows while you go and get the Boss Key."

"From what I've gathered from the map, though, it'll take some adjusting of the temple's water levels for us to get the Boss Key," Midna stated.

Link then took out his ocarina and handed it to her. "You know Zelda's Lullaby, right?" the hero asked.

Midna nodded.

"Good, use this to lower the water level so you can get that Boss Key. I'll head on over to the temple's west wing right now."

"I won't play the song until you are in the wing," Midna assured him.

"One more thing, though," Link added. "We should activate a Farore's Wind warp point here so we can warp back here so we can reach the Boss Chamber in a non-complicated fashion."

"That shouldn't be necessary," Midna answered. "I've been studying the map and using my magic to try to ascertain the best route I can in order to reach the Boss Key. As it turns out, I should be able to do so without too much difficulty. I will need that Shadow Crystal, though. I never guessed that my imp form could actually be useful for anything."

Link smiled. He knew how much Midna had not liked her imp form while she had been cursed by Zant. He had had no problem with it but he did not dare say such to her. Before leaving, though, he handed her the map, saying, "Here, you'll probably need this more than I will. The path to the Boss Key is more complicated than the path to the Ice Arrows."

Midna nodded in agreement and accepted the map. Link then turned and jumped back into the water and sank down to the bottom so he could swim up to the third floor and make his way to the Ice Arrows. Midna kept her senses open to him so she would know when it was time to lower the water level.

Link descended back down the shaft until he reached the bottom. Then, swimming through the same passage that he had entered through, Link returned to the central chamber. Once there, he quickly swam up to the third floor, taking out his Clawshot to deal with the Tektite that was hovering above him, waiting for him to surface. Once he surfaced, he swam over to a red platform that floated just before the door that led to the temple's west wing. Pulling himself onto the platform, he went over to the door, opened it, and proceeded to make his way through.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22:

After Link had descended through the hole and was out of sight, Midna extended her magical senses to keep an eye on him and make sure that he was through the door before playing Zelda's Lullaby. The last thing she wanted was to slow him, and their journey, down by stranding him on the bottom of the temple floor while she went to claim the Boss Key. Once she sensed him go through, she knew that it was time for her to begin her own trek through the temple. Standing before the symbol, she gripped the Ocarina of Time and began playing notes and figuring out the fingerings until she managed to learn the proper fingerings for playing Zelda's Lullaby. She did so and the moment the song ended, she heard a chime and a draining sound echoed throughout the room and the temple. She went over to the hole and saw the water level lowering. For a moment, she wondered if it may have had an effect on the outside world, but after extending her senses, she found that there was no effect anywhere outside of the Water Temple. Focusing back on the task at hand, Midna waited for the water level to lower to its lowest level.

Once the draining sound stopped, she knew that it was time to go to work. She went through the hole and magically floated down to the lower level. When she landed, she was met with a lit torch as well as two that were not lit. Knowing that she had to light the two unlit torches, she closed her eyes and prepared a fire spell. Once the spell was ready, she extended her hands and two streams of flame burst forth from them, igniting the torches. The moment the torches were ignited, a musical chime sounded and the bars over the door lifted, granting the Twili woman access to the room beyond.

In the next room, Midna was met by a Shell Blade, an oyster-like creature that opened itself up, revealing two muscles that kept both halves together. Midna scoffed at this non-challenge. Extending her hands, she unleashed a single blast of Twilight magic and annihilated the creature. Two more Shell Blades then appeared and were dispatched just as quickly.

After the Shell Blades were dealt with, a golden sparkle of energy appeared and began an orbit around a small section of air. As the sparkle continued orbiting the area, a treasure chest materialized. She went over to the chest and opened it. Reaching inside, she drew out a small, silver key. She figured that the key was designed for use in opening the locked doors in the temple. With the key in hand, she made her way out of the room and proceeded through the passage and back into the main chamber.

When she entered the main chamber, she scanned for the door that led to the interior of the central tower. After working her way around to the south end, she finally found the door, a door sitting above a platform with a silver lock and chain over it. Taking out the key, Midna jumped onto the platform and inserted the key into the lock. Turning the key, the chains retracted and the lock fell off. She then pushed the door open and went on through.

Inside the tower, she found herself inside a tall room with no floors, only ledges and platforms. The walls were made of metallic tiles and she scanned them to see if there were any traps. So far, there were none. She then scanned the platforms to see if there were any enemies waiting on top of them to perform an ambush of any sort. So far, they were unoccupied, though, which surprised her. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. Any Hyrulean soldiers with Zora Tunics and Water Bombs would have been devastating guards to have positioned there. As it was, though, they were not there and she then she continued studying the platforms to see if there were other traps present since there were no soldiers or other enemies on top of them. There were several Clawshot targets on the platforms, indicating that it was designed for use by someone who had the item. Fortunately for her, though, she did not need to use the Clawshot or any other grappling item since she could float through the air. She floated up to each platform and scanned the rest of the tower.

Eventually, she reached the middle of the tower and she found another Triforce mark on the wall. She suspected that this was another "switch" where she could change the water level. She took out the Ocarina of Time and played Zelda's Lullaby. The moment she was finished, she could hear the rushing of water as the water filled up the temple. Looking down from the platform, she saw the water level continue to rise until it stopped just below her platform. She grimaced. She was beginning to think that adjusting the water level in order to reach the Boss Key was going to be a waste of time since she suddenly realized that she would have to raise it to the top for her to have complete access to the Boss Key. She could have simply blasted her way through any locked doors that were in her way. She grimaced at the realization but did not let herself get distracted. She floated over to the platform on the western portion of the tower and then exited the tower.

When she exited the tower, she saw a locked door with a Clawshot target above it. She floated over to the door and proceeded to use her key to open it. The lock fell off and the chains retracted, granting her entry into the room. When she entered, she found a geyser in the left corner of the room with a hole just above it along with a switch at the right end, close to the door. She smiled sarcastically as she realized how pathetically easy this puzzle would turn out to be. She approached the geyser but as she neared it, she heard the telltale sounds of a Tektite jumping towards the hole. There, she stopped and waited, powering a magical ball of Twilight energy. When the Tektite fell through the hole to attack the former Twilight Queen, the queen annihilated the spider-like creature with the ball. Scoffing at how pathetically easy the puzzle was to solve, she stood on the geyser and sent a ball of Twilight magic towards the switch in the right corner. When the ball collided with the switch, a ring and a click sounded and the geyser immediately began to shoot up towards the ceiling, the Twili woman riding the water up to the next floor.

The geyser took her to a deserted room with a door to the left. She jumped off the geyser, allowing the water to recede back to the lower level, and made her way through the door. After emerging from the room, she found herself in an alcove with a Triforce symbol. Taking out the Ocarina of Time once more, she played Zelda's Lullaby and waited as the water level returned to its original height.

After the sound of rising water stopped, the former Twilight Queen pulled out the map once more and studied it, knowing that it would be a difficult journey for her to make it through the door on the bottom level and managed to find air before she drowned. She then put the map away again and went over the tower. There, she made her way to its north side, dealing with the two Tektites that tried to accost her along the way.

When she reached the north side of the tower, she stopped for a moment and, taking a deep breath, jumped into the water. She swam down to the first level of the temple, searching for the door that led to the north, hoping to be able to surface in the next room before she ran out of air. After descending to the bottom, she came to the door that led to the north section of the temple's first floor. She went through the door and through the corridor until she came to a wall. She then quickly swam up and surfaced in a room with a series of spikes on top of the wall she came to. There was a platform on one side of the room with a Clawshot panel on the other side with a door underneath. She grimaced as she felt as if it would have been better for Link to have tackled this challenge rather than her, though that was merely because it seemed as if his equipment was designed for tackling this dungeon and while she knew that he would not have had difficulty breathing underwater, that tackling the dungeon would have been a little more time consuming for him since he could not just float over hazardous terrain. As it was, she simply floated over the spiked floor to reach the platform, and door, at the other side of the room. Once she reached the door, she went through to tackle the challenges in the next room.

In the next room, she encountered another pool; only this one seemed to have a series of currents as well as some boulders rolling through the currents. In addition, she was faced with six Tektites, each stationed at various places in the pool. She was quick to notice that they were not affected by either the boulders or the currents. The greater danger, however, was posed by the two Hyrulean Knights that were situated on the platform at the other end of the room. Midna grimaced as they spotted her and opened fire with their magical halberds, forcing her to raise a shield. The magical blasts splashed harmlessly against her shield and she quickly dispatched them with single blasts of dark Twilight magic, vaporizing them with each hit. She then turned her attention to the Tektites and dispatched them just as easily as she had the Knights of Hyrule. Once the enemies had been dealt with, she floated over to the ledge that led to the next room and went through the door.

In the next room, Midna began by clearing the room of Stingers. She extended her hands and unleashed vicious bolts of Twilight magic upon the creatures, destroying them with single hits, not wanting them to interfere with her solving of the puzzle. Once the Stingers were destroyed, she got to work figuring out the room and its tricks. She looked down at the water on the east side of the room and saw a switch beneath the water. She then turned to the west and saw a large series of ledges that led to a door. She smiled as she simply floated over to the ledges and up to the door, bypassing the puzzle that anyone else would have needed to solve all together. When she reached the door, she proceeded to make her way through to the next room.

The next room consisted of a large hole in the middle of the room, with only two ledges, one on each end of the room. There was a crystal switch close to Midna, along with three geysers that were barely active. She knew that the switch would activate geysers would grant most people passage across the hole. She, however, needed no such assistance as she simply floated over to the other side, slaughtering the two Tektites that were stationed there as she arrived. She was beginning to think that it was, indeed, better for her to be on this assignment while Link got the Ice Arrows. She had gotten through the difficult part of not drowning. All she had to do now was get the Boss Key and return to the central tower and wait for Link, assuming he took longer to reach the central tower than she did. Once she touched down on the ground, she casually made her way through the door and into the next section of the maze.

Upon going through the door, she found herself in a alcove that led to corridor with running water and a series of boulders. She was getting close now. She promptly jumped into the water and went over to the hole that led to the chamber with the Boss Key. She swam down the hole and proceeded to swim down the corridor, annihilating a Shell Blade with a magical ball of energy. Eventually, she came to the end of the corridor and floated up to the surface, taking several deep breaths as she did so. Floating up to the ledge, she then made her way to another locked door. Using the small key, she unlocked the door and went inside.

Inside the door was an ornate treasure chest that she knew contained the key to the Boss's chamber. Wasting no time, she went over to the chest and opened it. Golden light shined forth from the chest as she opened it and she reached inside to extract its contents. She soon pulled out the Boss Key, a golden key with a jewel and two horns at the end of it. She then put it away and proceeded to exit the chamber so she could retrace her steps back to the temple's central tower, and go through what may have been one of the more difficult parts of her quest.

She emerged back in the previous corridor and promptly made her way to the hole just after a boulder had landed in front of her. Once she reached the hole, she dove in and followed the passageway, as well as a large boulder, out into the room with the whirlpools. Floating up to the ledge with the exit, she made her way back into the room with the spiked floor. Floating over the spikes, she made her way to the ledge on the other side of the room. Then, taking a deep breath, she dove into the water and began to swim to the bottom of the room, turning around so she could find the corridor. Finding the corridor, she swam through and eventually found herself back in the temple's main chamber. There, she swam up to the surface, expelling oxygen as she expended more energy than she had wanted in order to reach the surface. Once there, she took a couple of deep breaths before swimming to the ledge that went around the tower's perimeter. Once she reached the ledge, she pulled herself up and went to the west side to wait for Link to return.

Meanwhile, Link was making his way through the west wing of the temple's third floor. He began his trek walking through a narrow corridor that was filled with a group of Keese. Staying close to the door, Link drew out one of his Clawshots and shot each Keese, destroying them with single hits.

Once the Keese were gone, he quickly walked through the corridor until it opened into a chamber that had a waterfall on his side, as well as on the other side, along with a series of sinking platforms. He could see a platform form from underneath the ledge high above him and ride the waterfall down into a dark abyss below. He could also see the chamber's exit in the distance. Studying the platforms, he spotted Clawshot targets on them. Knowing what he had to do, he took aim with his Clawshot at the farthest platform that was still within range of the spring-loaded grappling hook and he fired. The claw reached out from his launcher and dug its claws into the stone target. Link tightly held onto the launcher as it pulled him across the chasm and into the platform, which was quickly sinking. When he reached the platform, he quickly pulled himself up onto it and turned and found the next highest platform, knowing that he had no time to waste. Finding it, he fired on that one, being careful to aim at the higher point on the target so that climbing up to the platform would be easier once he reached it. He continued to make his way up the waterfall in this fashion until he reached the top and came to the ledge. When he reached the ledge, he went into the alcove and found the door leading to the next chamber, quickly making his way through.

The next chamber consisted of four platforms, two of them with gray statues of dragons' heads, an alcove in the northern section of the room that clearly led to the exit, and a crystal switch in the center of the room. In the water below were also a number of Tektites. Not wanting to have to worry about dealing with the spider-like enemies, Link took out his bow and shot each and every one of them, felling them with single arrows. Once the Tektites were dealt with, he went to work solving the room's puzzle.

Taking out his Clawshot, so he would not waste arrows solving the puzzle, he shot it at the switch in the center of the room. Once the claw hit the switch, there was a high-pitched clank and ring. Immediately, the dragons' heads rose and revealed Clawshot targets on their necks. Seeing the path that would lead to the exit, Link Clawshotted over to the southwestern platform. Making his way around the statue, he then Clawshotted over to the northwestern platform. Once there, he walked a few steps to his right until he saw the Clawshot target on the dragon on the northeastern platform, right beneath the alcove that led to the exit. Taking his Clawshot, he fired it and let it pull himself across to the northeastern platform. Seeing that he could not reach the top of the dragon's head in this position, he then fired the Clawshot at the switch in the center of the room, figuring that it would lower the dragons' heads so that he could stand on top of them. When the switch was hit, the dragons' heads did indeed, lower, granting the hero access to their tops. Jumping up onto the top of the dragon's head, Link fired his Clawshot at the switch one last time. Again, the dragons' heads rose and granted Link access to the alcove.

When Link stepped off, he came across a wall of spikes, as well as two Tektites and a gelatinous tube-like creature called a Like Like. Not wanting to waste any time dealing with them, Link took out two Bombs and tossed them over the spiked wall, one of them landing in the Like Like's maw and the other close to the two Tektites. The Like Like quickly devoured the source of its own death, ingesting the bomb just before it exploded, destroying the creature in the process. The other bomb detonated and blew apart the Tektites in the process, clearing the way for Link. The hero then drew out his Clawshot and fired it at the target, allowing himself to be pulled over the spiked wall. When he landed, he proceeded to make his way through the door.

In the next room, he found himself standing in the middle of a misty pool that seemed to go on forever in all directions. In the middle of the pool was a tree with two branches at the top. Off in the distance seemed to be a small house of an unknown design with a strange roof. There was a small door in the front of the house. As he gazed out at the scene, he could feel that there was something strange about this room. He carefully made his way across the room, walking past the tree. He eventually arrived at the house and went up to the door. He reached out to grab the doorknob but when he did so, he found that there was nothing to grab. He then went to his right a bit to test out a theory. He drew out his bow and an arrow. Stringing the arrow to the bow, he pulled back on the string and let fly with the arrow. The arrow flew a few feet before being stopped by an invisible wall. When he saw the arrow break against the wall, he knew that he was in a strange room. He then turned around to go back the way he came in order to find another path to the room with the Ice Arrows.

As he neared the tree in the center of the room, a dark figure appeared from behind the tree. Link strained to see the figure at first but once it stepped out from behind the tree, he found that it was none other than a dark version of himself. The figure held his sword in the same hand that Link did and was also equipped with a shield. The sword seemed to be structured much like Link's own Master Sword, though he did not know if it had any magical capabilities. He kept his distance, though, just to make sure that he did not stumble into any traps. As the figure began to approach, Link quickly drew the Master Sword and prepared to engage his dark doppelganger in single combat.

Dark Link approached Link holding his sword in the same exact position as the hero. When he was within range, Link raised his sword in order to block Dark Link's strike, only to see his doppelganger raise his own sword. The doppelganger then tried to bring his sword down upon the hero, prompting Link to raise his shield and intercept the attack. A loud clang rang out as Dark Link's sword struck Link's Hylian Shield. The hero retaliated with a horizontal slash of his own only for his dark shadow to swing his sword to parry Link's own blow. Link followed up with a vertical slash and a stab but Dark Link managed to intercept both attacks. Now it was time for Dark Link to go back on the offensive.

Dark Link rushed the hero and thrust his sword forward, forcing Link to spin out of the way. The dark villain then swept his sword to the left to try to catch Link in the side. Link moved his shield to intercept the sweep and Dark Link's sword bounced off of the hero's shield. Dark Link did not stop there, though. He continued his assault by unleashing a flurry of horizontal and vertical strikes upon the hero. Link, however, was able to either intercept or evade all of them. He then retaliated with a horizontal sweep of his own, forcing Dark Link to break his pattern of attack by jumping away from the attack. However, the Master Sword managed to catch the dark villain and cut a gash into the villain's dark tunic and possibly his skin as well. However, the slash must not have caused that much damage, for Dark Link barely skipped a beat before reengaging the hero.

His next flurry of attacks came in the form of several attempted shield bashes. He thrust his shield towards Link to try to knock the hero off balance so he could find an opening where he could strike. Link, knowing the hidden skills of the Hero of Time, though, saw the shield bashes coming from a mile away and during the intervening months between the Twilight Invasion and Ganondorf's return, he had been studying the hidden skills, finding weaknesses in them, as well as coming up with counters for them on the chance that other opponents knew about them. He would be able to test what he had learned against his evil doppelganger.

When Dark Link went to thrust his shield towards the hero, Link jumped to the side and rolled along the ground in preparation for a Back Slice. Dark Link was quick to react, though, and spun around, managing to raise his shield to catch Link's strikes. He soon retaliated with a Back Slice of his own. However, seeing the move coming, Link managed to position himself so that he could intercept Dark Link's thrust. That was when the weakness in the Back Slice was exposed. As Dark Link spun around, he exposed his back to the hero. Link then ducked down so as to avoid Dark Link's spinning strike and thrust his sword towards the dark villain's lower abdomen. The Master Sword managed to bite into Dark Link's flesh and the blade disappeared a couple of inches into the left lower part of the villain's abdomen just above his waist before he pulled away to avoid allowing Link's blade to plunge further into him.

The villain backed off a few steps, clutching his lower abdomen, scarlet liquid oozing from the wound, indicating that Dark Link was bleeding. Still, the villain was far from finished. He decided to ignore the wound and continue battling Link, raising his sword as Link raised his. The dark villain then charged the hero once more. Link, realizing that Dark Link was able to match him move for move with the sword, but did not seem to have any magical powers or magical weapons, decided to use his other techniques for dealing with Dark Link.

As Dark Link approached, Link unleashed a Great Spin towards the hero. The orange red wave of energy unleashed by the sword expanded from the center of the spin and soon reached Link's dark doppelganger. Dark Link was caught completely off guard by the attack and could only raise his shield in order to minimize the damage he would suffer. This did little to save him, though, since the energy wave managed to wash over the shield and inflict severe burns to the body of Dark Link.

Dark Link stumbled backwards as he suffered the full brunt of the energy wave released by the Master Sword. As he stumbled backwards, his guard was lowered, allowing Link to take advantage of his weakness. The hero, wanting to end the battle quickly, charged forward and performed a sword thrust at the villain's heart. Dark Link managed to avoid taking a hit to the heart, but the Master Sword still bit into the torso of the dark doppelganger. Link withdrew the sword and Dark Link staggered backwards and fell to the ground. Seeing this as his chance to end the fight, Link leapt into the air and performed an Ending Blow on the villain. He brought his sword down upon Dark Link's head and thrust it into the dark villain's skull. Dark Link immediately stopped moving and began to erupt into a magical flame. Link withdrew the blade and let the body burn until it disintegrated in its entirety.

The moment the body was consumed by the magical flame, the mist disappeared and the room transformed into a normal Water Temple room complete with brick walls. At the end of the room was a stone platform that came a few inches out of the water. At the end of the platform was a door that led to the treasure room, as Link thought of it. Going over to the door, he opened it and went into the room beyond.

The room beyond was completely barren save for the treasure chest in the middle and the hole behind it. Going over to the treasure chest, Link opened it and reached inside to pull out its contents. He soon emerged with the Ice Arrow as well as a quiver that emanated magical energy strong enough that even he could sense its power. Like with the Fire and Light Arrow, there was a crystal at the end of the Ice Arrow, only this one was blue instead of bright yellow to gold. Not only that, but there was a bundle of arrows in the chest as well, which would also make perfect Ice Arrows for the hero. Link placed the Ice Arrow inside the quiver and then placed the bundle of arrows in the quiver, too. He suspected that like with the Light Arrow, that when he placed an arrow in the magical quiver, that it would also become an Ice Arrow, just like with the Light Arrow.

Once he had gotten everything he had needed, he proceeded towards the hole in the back of the room, hoping that it would provide a shortcut back to the main chamber. He jumped down the hole and found himself in a tunnel with an underground river. There was a strong current that was pushing him down the river, not giving him time to admire any of the scenery. He contemplated putting on his Iron Boots so that he could get his footing on the ground, letting his Zora Armor extract oxygen from the water so he could breathe, but he decided to let the current carry him and only keep his Iron Boots handy if he came across any whirlpools, which he quickly did.

He continued to stomp his way through the water, carefully navigating around the whirlpools, he made his way down the river until he came to a series of twin whirlpools, one on each side of the river. Feeling that it would be best for him to swim out of trouble in this section, Link took off his Iron Boots and swam between the whirlpools. The suction of the whirlpools made this difficult for the hero, but he was eventually able to break free of their grip and continue down the river until he came upon a small ledge.

Pulling himself up onto the ledge, he scanned his surroundings and quickly found an eye switch above a ledge not too far away. Pulling out his bow and an arrow, he notched the arrow to his bow, pulled back on the string, and let fly with the arrow. The arrow streaked through the air and struck the eye switch dead center, causing the eye to close and a treasure chest to fall from the ceiling, striking the ledge below the eye switch with a thud. Taking out his Clawshot, he fired it at the treasure chest and let it carry him over to the ledge, and the door. When he reached the ledge, he opened the treasure chest and pulled out an Orange Rupee. He put the Rupee into his wallet and proceeded to make his way through the door.

In the next room, there was a pool with a large dragon statue underwater. Ignoring the statue, he jumped into the water to swim to the door at the other end of the room. He had a feeling that he was going "backwards" through this room and that the puzzles here were meant to be performed as if he had been coming from the main chamber. Pulling himself up onto the ledge at the end of the room, he proceeded to make his way through the door and continue on his journey back to the main chamber.

In the next room, he came across a gap in the floor that was too wide to jump. However, the crystal switch on the other side of the room indicated that there was a path that would allow him to cross. Taking out his Clawshot, he fired it at the switch, striking and causing a loud clanging ring to echo throughout the room. Almost immediately, a geyser of water erupted from the gap in the center, allowing Link to jump across to it. He jumped onto the water and then jumped to the ledge on the other side of the gap just as the switch deactivated. He then made his way through the door.

Through the door was a hole that led to a flooded corridor that would lead him back to the main chamber. Jumping into the water, he swam down the corridor, encountering no enemies to speak of, eventually reaching a ledge. The ledge, however, was also flooded, indicating that the temple's water level was at its highest. Link swam through the corridor until he emerged in the central chamber. He then proceeded to make his way up the surface, and to the central ledge that surrounded the main tower.

When he surfaced and reached the ledge, he found Midna standing near the edge, waiting for him with a satisfied smile. As he approached, she crossed her arms and mock scowled at him. "What took you so long?" she demanded playfully. "I've been waiting here for several minutes."

"I had a problem with a dark version of myself," the hero answered, not knowing whether Midna's complaints were playful or serious, or both.

"Was it created directly by the evil Link or Zelda?" Midna asked, still focusing her gaze upon him.

"I don't know," Link answered with a shrug. He just appeared when I turned back to a tree." He then quickly changed the subject, asking, "And how did you make out?"

"Very well," the former Twilight Queen answered as she showed him the Boss Key, smiling. She then handed the Water Temple's map back to him, though they both knew that it was not really necessary any longer, for they already knew where they had to go and how to get there. "Well, we've dawdled here long enough. Let's take care of that Dark Sage and destroy the Water Barrier."

Link heartily agreed as he made his way back around the perimeter of the central tower to its north end. There, they the ledge that would lead to the Boss's chamber. The ledge was too high for the to reach by swimming, but there was a Clawshot target on a column so Link would be able to cross. Midna simply floated over while Link took out his Clawshot and proceeded to fire on the target.

After he was pulled across, he turned and looked up the incline that he would have to climb in order to reach the large door with the golden lock above. There were three spiked sliders that were sliding across the floor that would make the trip up perilous at best. Midna casually floated above the spiked sliders and quickly reached the top and waited by the door for Link to make his way up.

Link, meanwhile, was studying the patterns of the sliders, not wanting to get his legs cut out from underneath him on his way up. Seeing that if he kept to the right side of the incline, that he could get up before the spiked sliders could reach him if he timed his ascent correctly, he proceeded to wait for the spiked slider to pass and then begin his climb. As he climbed, he caught sight of Midna, crossing her arms and tapping her foot, waiting impatiently for him to make it up the incline. It was clear that she was tempted to simply annihilate the spiked sliders with her magic, but she decided not to, waiting to see if Link could make it up on his own. She wanted to conserve her power for the fight up ahead.

Link eventually made it up to the top without taking a hit from any of the sliders. When he arrived, Midna smiled at him and then turned towards the large door. Producing the key, she inserted it into the lock and turned it to the right. The chains immediately broke from the lock and the lock fell to the ground with a thud. The wheel on the door then turned and the door opened, granting the duo entry into the Boss Chamber.

Inside the chamber, they found themselves standing on a ledge that surrounded a large square pool of water. There was a pillar in the center of the room that jutted out a few feet out of the water. Standing on the pillar was a Hylian male that looked to be about thirty years old. He wore blue robes and had blue gauntlets, obviously denoting his rank as a Dark Sage of Water. As Link and Midna entered the room, he turned to face them, he cast his gaze over Link, who drew his bow and readied an arrow. The Dark Sage gave a smirk. "Well if it isn't the Hero," he said mockingly.

He then turned to Midna, who was standing next to Link and scowling towards the Sage. His eyes went wide with surprise as he uttered, "Woah," being completely enthralled by the Twili woman's beauty. Midna was not amused. The Dark Sage merely grinned. "Well, this is a little awkward," he commented. "I need to kill you, but I don't want to kill the babe. After all, she would be a great addition to my harem."

"I'd like to see you try," Midna challenged, stepping forward, forcing Link to step forward to hold her back.

"Wait, we don't know his plan yet," the Hero of Twilight cautioned.

"True," the Dark Sage noted casually as if he had heard Link and Midna's exchange. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I have a job to do and I will do it, as well as get a little present on the side," he added as he leered at Midna.

He then raised his arms and a small whirlpool formed in the water. As the whirlpool formed, he cried, "Arise Morpha!"

Sure enough, a watery tentacle formed from inside the whirlpool. Inside the tentacle, Link could see a small, round red ball surrounded by a clear membrane travel along the tentacle, spinning around as if studying him and the Twilight Queen.

"The Dark Sage is mine," Midna declared, glaring at the Sage.

That left Morpha for Link.

"Your loss, babe," the Dark Sage scoffed arrogantly as Midna floated over towards his platform to engage him in battle.

The Dark Sage quickly held out his hand and unleashed a torrent of water Midna's way. Midna, seeing the water but her forward momentum preventing her from being able to avoid it through conventional means, disappeared in a puff of twilight sparks, causing the water to engulf nothing but air and crash into the wall and disperse a ways away from Link, though some of the water managed to splash the half-Hylian hero. Midna reappeared a few meters away, grinning.

"A neat trick," the Dark Sage stated with an approving nod. He then grinned some more, continuing to leer at the former Twilight Queen. "But that won't do much good against me." The Dark Sage then formed a platform of water beneath his feet and rose into the air a few inches. "Now, you're gonna face me when I mean business," he declared as he charged Midna.

"Bring it on," the Twili woman replied confidently.

Meanwhile, Link began the battle against Morpha by putting away his bow and drawing out his Clawshot, feeling that an arrow would not penetrate the thick watery tentacle that Morpha was hiding in. For a moment, he considered using the Ice Arrow against Morpha but decided against it, not wanting the creature to fall into the water on the off chance that the water in this room had other properties. As such, he waited for Morpha to control the tentacle and fling it towards him. The entity did as he expected and the tentacle lunged at the hero. The hero deftly dodged the tentacle and he quickly scanned it for the presence of the Morpha core. Spotting it, he took careful aim with his Clawshot and when he had a positive bead on the creature, he fired it. The claw pierced the tentacle and grabbed Morpha, pulling it out of the tentacle, which promptly collapsed, and right to Link. When the claw opened to be fully retracted into the launcher, Link drew his sword and before Morpha could hit the ground and hopefully bounce away from the hero, Link slashed at it. The sword bit into the clear membrane and even scratch the core of Morpha, itself. Still, one slash was not sufficient to take down the creature so Link continued to slash at Morpha as it attempted to bounce back into the water and form another watery tentacle. Link continued to slash the creature, inflicting several minor cuts, the membrane doing a good job keeping Morpha from coming to irreparable harm. Still, each cut would add up and enough small cuts would, indeed, be fatal. However, the tentacle still managed to bounce away from Link and reenter the water.

As it reentered the water, it decided to try a new strategy for dealing with Link. It formed a series of tentacles of water and had them rise up from the water's surface. Each tentacle zeroed in on the hero and lashed out at him. Link managed to dodge each of the tentacles but he also noticed another series of tentacles beginning to form a shield over Morpha. Wasting no time, the hero targeted the core with his Clawshot, the claw leaping from the launcher. The claw struck the watery tentacles shielding the core and managed to pierce through one of them before being stopped by the second. The claw retracted, collapsing one of the tentacles, which re-formed and regained its position protecting Morpha before the claw managed to fully retract. This was when Link decided that it was time to use some of his spoils of the trek through the temple.

He took out his bow and drew out an Ice Arrow. Notching the arrow to his string, he took aim at Morpha while avoiding another barrage of watery tentacles, these tentacles actually going one step further and shooting jets of water at him. The hero managed to dodge the jets of water as well as their splash radii, not wanting to risk getting even a drop of water on him. As the tentacles were beginning to prepare another barrage of water, as well as the water that splashed on the ground beginning to form tentacles of its own, Link let fly with the Ice Arrow.

The Ice Arrow leapt from the bowstring and speared through the air at incredible speed. It struck the tentacle shield and exploded in a wave of icy energy. Ice formed around the tentacle, completely encasing it in ice. The ice spread to the water that the tentacle was formed from and spread to other tentacles, too. Link, seeing an opportunity to freeze the whole arena solid, fired another Ice Arrow at the tentacles that had yet to be frozen. The arrows struck the tentacles and exploded into waves of ice, encasing the tentacles in ice, the ice spreading to the water below.

As he fired the arrows at the tentacles, Morpha decided to form more tentacles out of the water. Seeing this, Link fired more Ice Arrows at each forming tentacle, freezing the tentacle as well as the water in the pool. Not wanting Morpha to be able to form more tentacles, he now fired on the water, itself. Ice Arrow after Ice Arrow was unleashed into the water, sheets of ice forming over the water with each hit, some of them overlapping. Eventually, the entire pool was frozen solid save for one tentacle that surrounded Morpha.

With Morpha all but immobilized and unable to form more watery tentacles, Link drew out his Clawshot once more and proceeded to walk out onto the ice. Taking aim with his Clawshot, he fired on Morpha. The claw pierced the tentacle and grabbed the Morpha core, yanking it out of the tentacle, which quickly collapsed onto the icy pool. Knowing that it would take more than a few sword swings to finish off Morpha, Link took out his bow once more along with an Ice Arrow. He fired the Ice Arrow at the center hole in the center of the pool and the icy wave covered the hole with ice before Morpha could retreat into it. Now the core was exposed and unable to find any sanctuary. Link, quickly drew out another Ice Arrow and took aim at the bouncing red round ball. He then let fly with the arrow. The arrow streaked through the air and struck Morpha in its center of mass. The round ball-like creature was then encased in a ball of ice as the Ice Arrow detonated, the creature falling to the ground and rolling on the ground, eventually coming to a stop near the wall. Link then rushed over to Morpha and drew out his Megaton Hammer, intent on smashing the ball of ice, and Morpha with it. As he neared Morpha, he raised his hammer and then brought it down on the ball of ice, shattering it, and Morpha, with one blow.

The moment the ball of ice was shattered, the pieces of Morpha that flew out from it instantly turned into water and then erupted into an unnatural blue flame. Link watched Morpha's remains burn until there was nothing left. With Morpha having been beaten, he then turned his attention to Midna and the Dark Sage, noticing that Midna had things well in hand, too.

While Link had been fighting Morpha, Midna had been handling the Dark Sage with little effort. The Dark Sage first unleashed a torrent of water Midna's way after she had teleported away from the first one. Seeing this one coming, though, she was able to sidestep it, allowing it to crash into the arena's wall and disperse. The former Twilight Queen responded by powering a ball of Twilight magic in her hand and targeting the Dark Sage. As he was preparing another water spell, Midna unleashed the ball of magic on the Sage. The Dark Sage's eyes went wide with surprise at the attack and he tried to avoid it, only to fail as the ball slammed into him, his own magical acumen and the magic of his robes being the only thing managing to blunt the spell enough that it did not kill him. Still, there was a neat hole burned in his robes that had been covering his chest, revealing a toned figure.

"So, it seems as if you're not as weak as I initially thought," he commented. He then grimaced. Defeating Midna would be harder than he expected, possibly too hard for him to do without actually trying to kill her, something that he wished to avoid for the moment since he had uses for her. Still, he could not let his own carnal desires override his mission. He had to keep these intruders from destroying the barrier. If the Forest Barrier could be destroyed, then he knew that the Water Barrier was not immune to damage, either.

He floated a few feet away from his position, backing off from the Twili woman. The power of her magical ball had been extraordinary for a spell that had not been charged at all. He also began to wonder if this woman was, indeed, the Dark Woman that had fought Link and Zelda a decade ago. Still, he knew that he would have to cast aside all curiosity if he wanted to defeat this witch. He then proceeded to chant a spell to himself that would boost his own strength and durability. After that, he drew a sword from beneath his robes and held it out in front of him almost as if it were a magic wand. Midna noticed that the sword seemed to be wet and was even dripping water. The Dark Sage grinned as he pointed the sword towards Midna. Knowing that he was about to unleash an attack, Midna raised a shield over herself as a stream of water was launched from the sword.

The former Twili Queen did nothing to avoid the water as she powered another blast of magic in her hands. The water splashed against her shield, causing it to flare for a brief instant but inflicted no real damage to either her or the shield. She then responded by unleashing the magical blast on the Dark Sage. The Sage raised his sword and went to slice the magical ball in half with a single swipe, but upon having the ball meet with his sword, his watery sword broke, splitting into thousands of droplets of water with the ball continuing towards the Sage unabated. The ball struck the Sage and exploded, engulfing him in an explosion of light and sound for a brief moment before he was thrown from the epicenter of the blast, his watery platform disappearing from beneath him. Smoke trailed the Dark Sage as he fell, managing to guide his descent to one of the platforms in the pool below, hitting his back on the hard stone as he landed and skidded onto a pool of ice, something that he did not expect.

The Dark Sage struggled to stand as he looked over at Midna, who was standing on the perimeter of the pool, pointing two of her fingers at him. He grimaced at her. She was far more powerful than he had ever imagined. He then turned to see how Link was manhandling Morpha and knew that he would have to do something soon since he was no match for Midna, and if Link joined the fight, then it would turn an already lopsided battle into a hopeless encounter.

Eventually, he managed to stand on the ice and decided that it was time to reveal his final trick. If this did not defeat the Twili woman, nothing would. He held out his hands and proceeded to unleash a blizzard of ice, wind, and snow upon Midna. Midna recoiled in surprise that the Dark Water Sage could use ice attacks but she quickly realized that it should not have surprised her. Even so, though, she was still able to defend herself against the attack, raising a shield over herself. The ice spell struck the shield but instead of either dispersing or being deflected by the shield, the ice continued to build up on the shield, forming a sheet on it. The Dark Sage grinned as he saw the ice forming over the shield. He had her. The ice would continue to strain the shield and if she lowered it in order to escape, the sheet of ice would collapse on her. However, there was also a flaw to his plan that Midna had already figured out. The sheet of ice was not transparent so he could not see what she was doing to counter his obvious plan. It would prove most unfortunate as he could not see the sparkles of energy forming on Midna's fingertips.

Just as he was about to cast another blizzard to add more ice to the spell, Midna made her move. A lance of black and yellow energy erupted from the ice, piercing the ice and lashing out right at the Dark Sage. The Dark Sage did not see the attack coming in time and was unable to avoid it. As he was moving to his right in order to dodge the attack, it reached him and pierced his left shoulder, the lance cauterizing the wound as it pierced him.

The Dark Sage cried out in pain as he tried to dissipate the spell, only to see the ice wall collapse not too far away, though the lance still remained imbedded in his shoulder. For a split second, he felt a sensation of relief come over him just an instant before he was skewered by another spear of Twilight magic. This one caught him right in the chest, though, barely missing his heart. Still a lung was punctured and had the wound not been cauterized, he would have been coughing up blood. He struggled to turn and saw that Link had already destroyed Morpha and was now going over to assist Midna should she need it. She did not, though, as another Twilight spears erupted from her hand and finished off the Dark Sage, piercing his heart. After a few seconds, the Twilight spears dissipated and the Dark Sage fell over onto the platform, dead. Not wanting any magic to be able to revive the Dark Sage, Midna powered up a magical ball of energy and fired it at the body. The ball struck the body and annihilated it, reducing it to dust and ash.

When the Dark Sage of Water was finally destroyed, they noticed a blue pillar of light form on the platform where he had been standing. They knew that it would take them out of the temple and hopefully either to the Chamber of Sages or back to their ship. Either way, though, they were not finished with the temple just yet. The Water Barrier had yet to be destroyed. As long as it existed, it could still supply energy to the barrier protecting Hyrule Castle.

Seeing no sign of the barrier in the room, itself, Link looked along the wall and up at the ceiling. It did not take him long to find a discolored patch of stone up on the ceiling. Taking out a Bomb Arrow, Link lit the fuse, notched it to his bow, and pulled back on the string. Letting go of the string, he let fly with the arrow, the explosive projectile streaking towards the ceiling. The Bomb Arrow detonated immediately upon impact with the ceiling, blowing a massive hole in said ceiling, the two heroes having to stand back to avoid the falling stone.

Carefully stepping out onto the ice, not wanting to sink if it was getting thin from being at room temperature for so long, Link looked up at the ceiling and found what he was searching for, a round blue ball surrounded by a blue membrane. Yellow sparks of energy were flowing from the bottom of the ball to the top and were being emitted from the top of the barrier, almost certainly being sent to Hyrule Castle. Knowing that it was time to take out the Light Arrows, Link took out the quiver with the Light Arrows and drew out an arrow, its bright gold crystal head glowing as he notched it to his bow. After pulling back on the string, he let fly with the arrow. The arrow rocketed towards the barrier and pierced it as if it had been made of tissue paper. Upon piercing the barrier, the energy flow around the blue ball immediately stopped and dissipated as the blue ball began to expand in size slightly before exploding into thousands of magical sparkles that dissipated within a few seconds.

Midna then extended her senses to ensure that the barrier was, indeed, destroyed. Sensing no magic coming from the Water Temple, she looked over at Link and nodded. "It's done. The barrier's destroyed."

Link grinned. That was all he needed to hear. With nothing else left to do, the duo quickly made their way over to the pillar of light. Once they were inside, they were both lifted off the ground and surrounded by blue energy crystals. Once they were completely encased in the crystals, they rocketed into the air and disappeared from the Water Temple.

The crystal deposited the duo onto the central pillar inside the Chamber of Sages, just as the one from the Forest Temple had. Link turned towards the Water pillar and saw another pillar of light form and Link saw a figure rising from the light. As the figure rose, Link was easily able to identify it as a Zora. It took him a couple of seconds to recognize the Zora as Laruto, though. As soon as she fully appeared on the pillar, she looked over at Link and smiled.

"Hello Link," she began. "I did not expect to meet up with you again so soon." She then turned her gaze slightly and noticed Midna standing next to him. "I notice that you have a new traveling companion. I take it things did not work out between you and Tetra," she surmised.

She had guessed correctly as Link nodded. "I thought they wouldn't," she said with a sorrowful gaze. "We learned the hard way that most members of the Royal Family only care about themselves. But enough of that, who is your new companion?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm Midna," the former Twilight Queen answered. "I am a Twili from the Twilight Realm. I am a friend of Link's from a previous adventure."

"I see," Laruto answered, studying the Twili woman.

She then turned her attention back to Link. "I must say that it came as a surprise when I awakened as the Water Sage. I will do what I can to clear the Water Temple of what remains of the evil magic inside." Her expression then became more serious. "Link, the fall of the Water Temple will not go unnoticed by the forces of Hyrule. They already lost the taskforce defending the Water Temple. They will have the other temples placed under heavier guard. The Shadow Temple is located on Kakariko Island and, thus, will be heavily protected. The Fire Temple is beneath Death Mountain, which is inhabited by Gorons, so that may be the better temple to seek out first. The thing is, though, that it is close Kakariko Island, so it will be difficult to reach, too. Whichever path you choose, choose carefully. The forces of Hyrule will be waiting and they will take precautions against losing any more temples."

Link nodded and Midna answered, "We know. We'll be ready for them."

"Then good luck, heroes of Hyrule," Laruto wished. As soon as she made that wish, a pillar of light formed around Link and Midna and carried them out of the Chamber of Sages. As they vanished, they could hear Laruto's voice, echoing, "You are Hyrule's only hope."

The pillar of light deposited Link and Midna on the main deck of their ship, which was in the same place that it had been when they had gone down to the Shadow Temple. When they arrived on the ship's deck, they took a quick scan of their surroundings to see if there were any enemy ships present. Despite not seeing any, they still quickly retreated to the ship's bridge, Link taking the controls and inserting the key into the ignition. Turning the key, he started the ship. When the engine came alive, he proceeded to turn the ship towards the northeast, towards Kakariko Island and the Shadow Temple. More importantly, though, was the fact that he wanted to be as far away from Lake Hylia as possible, seeing that it would probably not be long before patrols and scouts from the Hyrulean Navy came to investigate why they lost contact with the ships protecting the Water Temple.

Meanwhile, back inside Hyrule Castle, the evil Link and Zelda sat in their bedroom, having enjoyed the pleasures of the flesh for two hours before they were interrupted by an emergency magical transmission from one of the nobles. The image of the noble had suddenly appeared inside a bowl, causing Zelda to jump and to cover herself with the bed's covers.

"My lord and Lady," the noble began, "I come bearing alarming news."

Link and Zelda were in a bad mood having their love making be interrupted. "Well, what the hell is it?" Zelda roared. "And it had better be important!"

"My lady, we have lost contact with both the Forest Temple and the Water Temple. Attempts at contacting the taskforce patrolling Lake Hylia have also ended in failure. We have sent ships to investigate. We expect to hear from them in the next couple of hours."

"That's what you called to tell us about?" Zelda roared. "Why not wait until the fleet has its report?"

"Forgive me, milady, but I just thought that you should know in case no one else had informed you," the noble stammered, not having expected to have interrupted the princess and her lover in a private moment.

"It's alright," the fallen Link answered, calming the noble. "We had not heard of this. You were right to report it. Inform us when the fleet you sent has its report."

"Understood sir," the noble answered.

Link gave a nod and the transmission then ended. As soon as the transmission had ended, Zelda scowled at her lover. "Why'd you let him off the hook like that?" she grumbled.

"We had not been informed of these events before now," Link answered.

"I had already sensed the deaths of the Forest and Water Sages as well as the fact that the energy supplying the barrier from those temples has stopped."

"Then we must make preparations for Link and the Dark Woman to come at our other temples," the fallen Link insisted, rising and putting on a pair of trousers.

"We can do that later," Zelda retorted, not taking the threat Link and Midna posed seriously. "I wish have my more carnal desires fulfilled before then."

"But if we let them systematically destroy the barriers, then new Sages will awaken," Link warned. "And that could be the start of a new rebellion, or give the current rebellion a significant boost in both morale and power."

"The rebellion is nothing, and the other Link and the Dark Woman won't make it far in the Shadow Temple," she told him. "They'll need the Lens of Truth to get through the Shadow Temple and beat Bongo Bongo and the Shadow Sage."

She then closed her eyes and Link could sense magic emanating from her. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes again and told him, "I have just informed the Shadow Sage of the situation. He has acknowledged my warning and is already tightening the defenses around Kakariko Island. There's no way the other Link and the Dark Woman will be able to conquer the temple."

Link was unconvinced but he did not argue the point. He simply rejoined Zelda in bed and pulled the covers back over himself. Then, they returned to their previous activities, the only signs anyone would see or hear of them for the next few hours being two lumps beneath the covers writhing, and the moans and sighs of pleasure emanating from them.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23:

Link and Midna had been traveling the Great Sea for several hours, Link guiding the ship from the command bridge while Midna stood on top of the deck to extend her senses to see what was going on around them, as well as to spot any trouble before it found them. Her scanning had been instrumental in helping Link avoid a couple of patrol ships and a frigate. While his small ship did have the armaments to deal with the ships that they would have come across, he did not want to risk drawing attention to his ship, for he knew that the Hyrulean Navy would already be suspicious at the sinking of the taskforce left to defend Lake Hylia and the Water Temple and so far, it appeared as if they had managed to avoid being tracked from the lake, indicating that to any other ship, they would appear to simply be a merchant vessel designed to ward off pirates.

To aid in the disguise, Link had removed his Zora Armor but instead of putting on his normal Hero's Clothes, he had put on a more casual outfit consisting of a cream colored shirt and a pair of brown trousers. Without his floppy hat and his green tunic, he hoped that he would not be recognized by anyone who came across his ship. As for Midna, it would be easy enough for her to hide in his shadow and avoid detection. It had worked for a second frigate that had passed by his small ship.

The frigate's captain had been sent to patrol the sea close to Kakariko Island in order to find any smugglers that may have been trying to smuggle rebels or even Link past the blockade. When he had come across Link's ship, Midna had already gone inside to alert him to the frigate's presence. When she had done so, he told her to hide in his shadow so that any soldiers or the captain of the frigate would not get suspicious.

When the frigate had arrived, Link heard a voice boom, "Captain of the unknown ship, come out now!"

Link exited the cabin and stood out on the main deck. The wooden frigate dwarfed his small ship, even though he had the firepower to destroy the frigate with a single rocket. The captain was a Hylian male in his early forties with brown hair and brown eyes. He looked to have been a ship's captain for a long time if the number of medals pinned on his chest were any indication. Link wondered why he was only the captain of a frigate.

"What type of ship are you?" the captain bellowed.

"I'm a merchant ship," Link answered.

"Where is your crew?" the captain asked.

"I'm afraid it's just me," Link answered. "I've been looking for a crew but no one has taken an interest."

"What is your cargo and destination?"

"I'm carrying ship wares for sale in the various shops on Kakariko Island, my destination."

The captain eyed him suspiciously. He looked over at an officer on the deck and inclined his head. The officer came over and stared at Link. The hero was certain that the Hylian staring at him was scanning him, trying to ascertain whether or not he was telling the truth. The officer soon glanced back at the captain and nodded, indicating that Link was telling the truth. The captain then nodded to Link and said, "Very well, then, carry on."

The captain then returned to his station behind the wheel of the ship and the frigate sailed off into the distance. As soon as the frigate left his sight, he breathed a sigh of relief. With the frigate gone, he made his way back into the cabin, where he sat down in the chair at the command station. Midna emerged from his shadow and said, "That was close. It's good that you changed into a less recognizable outfit. But I'm worried that it might not be enough to get us past the fleet guarding Kakariko Island."

"What have you found?" Link asked.

"Well, while you were talking to that captain, I was able to extend my scan all the way to Kakariko Island. There will be several more patrols that will likely intercept us before we reach the island and there is a defense fleet surrounding the island. It's not exactly a blockade, but they will shoot any unregistered ship, which this will be. And even if we make it onto the island, your sword will likely be recognized. There are posters of your likeness, clothing, and weaponry on the walls of every business on the island. Even if they don't recognize your face, they'll almost certainly recognize the Master Sword."

"I know," Link admitted. "But what choice do we have? We need to get to Kakariko Island and the way to Death Mountain will also be heavily patrolled."

Midna nodded in agreement. "We could make our way through if we had to, but we would likely risk our ship and we would have to fight our way to both temples and that would be difficult at best."

Link mirrored Midna's initial nod as he went about planning on what to do about that problem. As he was making his plans, Midna quickly turned towards the window.

"What is it?" Link asked, noticing her sudden change in behavior.

"Another ship is coming," she answered. She said nothing more as she focused on the ship. There was a different sensation coming from this ship. "It's not affiliated with Hyrule," she eventually added.

Link immediately exited the command bridge and went out onto the main deck. As he did so, Midna entered into his shadow. When he emerged onto the main deck, he looked out at the approaching ship. It looked to be a frigate in size and appeared to be made of wood. Its guns, however, were retracted, almost as if it suspected that Link's ship was either not a threat or was, in fact, a friend.

When the frigate got close, Link strained to see who was onboard the ship. Before the ship arrived, though, he heard Midna's voice echo through his mind, saying, "I don't believe it. That's Impa, the woman we met in Kokiri Village."

"It is?" Link asked.

He could feel Midna's nod. This was most fortunate. Being a former servant of the Royal Family, she may have known how to reach Kakariko Island undetected. The frigate was quick to pull alongside Link's smaller ship. When it did so, Midna emerged from Link's shadow and looked up at Impa and Nabooru, who returned their gazes and smiled.

"You did some nice work at the Water Temple," Nabooru noted. "A taskforce sunk, the temple liberated, a Dark Sage destroyed, the Royal Family must be having a fit right now."

Impa's expression was a little more stern. "I'm not so sure," she eventually answered, the wheels turning in her mind.

The Gerudo glanced over at her and Midna then asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that Link and Zelda are not doing what I would have expected. They're reinforcing the blockade over Kakariko Island, but they're not repositioning assets to protect the temples. They seem to think that whatever they have at the temples will be enough to stop you."

"Should it be?" Link asked.

Impa inclined her head and answered, "Hard to say. Kakariko Island already has a strong defense fleet protecting its port and it has a magical detection barrier to detect people warping onto and off the island."

"So teleporting onto the island is not an option," Midna stated flatly.

"Not unless you want to bring down a large portion of the Hyrulean military on your heads," Impa answered.

Neither of the heroes wanted that.

"So what do you suggest?" Link asked.

"Glad you asked," Nabooru answered with a grin. She then looked over her shoulder and scanned the horizon. "It should be getting here shortly," she said.

Link and Midna looked out over the sea, straining to see if anything was coming towards them. Eventually, they spotted a small ship over the horizon. "There it is," Nabooru called.

Impa nodded solemnly, indicating that it was not a trick and that it was not a ship affiliated with Hyrule, at least not in reality. As the ship approached, Link noticed that while it was larger than his current ship, it was not _that_ much larger than his ship and it also did not possess much weaponry, only a few cannons on each side on the gun deck. "What is this for?" Link asked.

"This will be your new ship," Nabooru answered.

"Why do we need this?" Midna queried, agreeing with Link that it did not seem necessary. "Our own ship has more weapons than this ship."

"Which would draw the attention of the Hyrulean military and police forces," Impa interjected. "The key is to reach the Shadow Temple without being discovered. While Link and Zelda did not take many precautions after the loss of the Forest and Water Temples, the other Dark Sages _are_. A platoon of the Knights of Hyrule has already been stationed inside the Shadow Temple, and you can bet that there are other enemies inside as well. The Shadow Temple is a place of the dead and is located behind the Kakariko Graveyard. All sorts of ghosts and undead creatures inhabit the temple, not the least of which is the ghost, Bongo Bongo."

"Who is Bongo Bongo?" Link asked.

"Bongo Bongo is a ghost that was sealed beneath the well in Kakariko Village, back when it was still a village," Impa explained. "When Hyrule was flooded, the water from the well was used up by the people of the village since fresh water became much more scarce. Eventually that, along with the arrival of the Dark Sage of Shadow, weakened the seal on the well and Bongo Bongo managed to escape. Rumor has it that he at first prepared to fight the Dark Sage of Shadow, but the two eventually came to an understanding. From then on, the Dark Sage and Bongo Bongo have been working together ever since."

"Wow," Midna almost whistled. "How do you know all of this?"

"I still have contacts in the Hyrulean military and nobility," she answered. "They're keeping me up to date on the edicts of the Hyrulean nobility. In addition, I'm a Sheikah. The sealing of Bongo Bongo is a story, or rather history, told to all Sheikah children. I wouldn't be surprised if the seal was broken on purpose."

"Why would Bongo Bongo work with Hyrule?" Midna asked.

"Freedom," Impa surmised with a shrug. "Possibly revenge as well. There was a legend that in another time, it managed to break free on its seal only to be destroyed by the Hero of Time."

"Would Bongo Bongo be able to detect us?" Link asked.

"Not likely," Impa answered. "Bongo Bongo hasn't been seen outside of the Shadow Temple and has never demonstrated the ability to sense people's arrival. However, Bongo Bongo is a shadow spirit, which allows it to see through illusions as well as invisible items and creatures. Still, that's not the most difficult part of the plan."

"What is, then?" Midna asked.

"Getting you past port security," Impa answered. "They almost always station magicians at the port to make sure that no one tries to smuggle magical items into Kakariko. In addition, they'd scan for Shadow Magic as well."

"Could they sense me if I hid in Link's shadow?" Midna asked.

Impa considered Midna's question. "My guess would be yes," she eventually answered. "They would likely be scanning for Shadow Magic, and if Twili Magic has traces of Shadow Magic then they could possibly detect you, or at least sense something off about Link."

"So what do we do?" Link asked. "There's no way our faces wouldn't be recognized."

Midna then pulled him aside and answered, "I may have a plan for that."

She then directed him into the bridge. Once they were inside, she told him her plan. "Remember when we went to that chapel in Ordon Village?"

Link nodded.

"Well, when we looked into the mirror, we saw what we really were. You saw that you were half-Human since you had a Hylian father and a Human mother. Well, I saw myself as a Human much like my current form, only with your skin tone. I could disguise myself as a Human and there is a possibility that the magicians at the port would not see through the illusion since they would see me as I would be if not for the influence of the Twilight Realm. There is the possibility that it would hide my Twili nature."

"But there's no guarantee of that," Link said thoughtfully.

"No," Midna admitted. "But I don't see any better options. They would almost certainly detect either me, or that there was something off about you, which could be problematic. The real problem will be getting your sword and magical items past their sensors."

"My magic sack may be sufficient for that," Link told her. "As a merchant, I could easily pass it off as an item I came across during my travels and have been using it to store a large number of items. If I had to show anything, I could show off some of my non-weapon items."

"That could work," Midna said in a hopeful tone. "And the sack already shields me from sensing the Ice Arrows and spells, not to mention that the Light Arrows can't be detected by magic."

"I could also put the Master Sword into the sack as well in order to hide it," Link added. "Since it was re-forged with Heaven's Light, it would be shielded from any magical scans and inside the sack, it would not be recognized. If worse came to worse and I had to use a weapon while in port, I could use my Ordon Sword, assuming they allow weapons on Kakariko Island."

"It sounds like a plan," Midna exclaimed. "One more thing, though," she added, quickly.

"What?"

"Use Farore's Wind to create a Warp Point on the ship," she told him.

"Why? Wouldn't it be detected?"

"Not necessarily," Midna stated. "I could put a cloaking spell over the warp point and if it's inside the bridge, it wouldn't be visible from above or from any other ship coming close by. All we would have to do is anchor the ship near the island and transfer over to the merchant vessel. Even if the warp point would be discovered, they wouldn't know it was us since we would not have an active warp point and they would likely think that we were exploring the island anyway. And as for why, well that would be simple. We could use it to get from Death Mountain back to our ship quickly. Even with the most careful of precautions, I'm almost certain that our ship will be discovered eventually. This way, we can be long gone when they come looking for us and more importantly, they'll be looking for us in the wrong places and for the wrong ship.

Link considered Midna's suggestion and he nodded in agreement. The former Twilight Queen was right. Her plan had a pretty good chance of success and the reward greatly outweighed the risk.

"Okay, let's do it," Link declared.

Midna smiled and she stood back as Link reached into his magical sack and pulled out the green spell crystal containing Farore's Wind. He gripped both halves of the crystal and then twisted, opening it up to release the spell. Once he opened it, a shining green ball of magical energy arose from the crystal and appeared in Link's hands. He then held the ball up high and the ball floated out of his hands, levitating into the air. He then stepped away and the ball floated back down towards the floor until it stopped, remaining a few feet above the floor. Once the spell was finished, Midna cast a cloaking spell to make it difficult for magical scans to pick up the spell's magical signature. Once they were ready, the two departed the bridge.

Once they headed back out on deck, Impa glanced at them and asked, "What was that all about?"

"We were formulating a plan," Link answered. "We needed to have a way to get in without them detecting our magical items as well as having a plan of escape should we be caught."

Impa nodded approvingly. She could not help but notice that they were hiding something, though that may have been as much to keep any crew members of the frigate from picking up on what they were planning as anything else. Midna then stepped forward and asked, "Do you have a change of clothes?"

The question surprised Impa. "Well, yes," she eventually answered.

"May I have them?" the former Twilight Queen requested.

Impa glanced at Midna questioningly before answering, "Okay," in a skeptical tone.

She then scanned Midna for a few seconds. After scanning her to ascertain Midna's size and fit, she sent a crew member of the frigate to bring Midna a change of clothes. "You may not necessarily find these to your liking but they're the only ones that we have. They're Ordonian clothing."

"That will be perfect," Midna stated. "In fact, I'll be better able to sell my disguise," she added.

The crew member soon returned with the change of clothes and she tossed them over to the Twili woman. Midna accepted them and went inside the bridge to change. As she did so, she not only put on her new clothes, a cream colored tunic and brown pants, she also changed her appearance, using her Twili Magic to make herself look as she would had she not been born a Twili in the Twilight Realm. The magic that Zelda had left with her also greatly aided her in that and would be useful for shielding the fact that she had used magic to reveal what she was coming to view as her true unaltered form.

She emerged from the bridge as a beautiful Human woman with orange hair that fell down to the middle of her back, blue eyes, wearing a cream colored sleeveless tunic and brown pants that were cut a couple inches below the knees. The eyes of several members of the frigate's crew went wide at the sight of Midna in her Human guise. Their mouths also hung open, agape at her beauty. Link managed to hide his reaction but he could not help but appreciate Midna's beauty as well. While Midna did not mind their reaction at first, she knew that they had a mission to accomplish.

"Come on guys, focus on the objective," she boomed.

That knocked them out of their reveries and they soon got back to work. Link and Midna waited for the other ship to arrive. When they saw it arrive, it was small but they knew that it would be sufficient for their purposes. They could see about half a dozen men on the deck, likely the crew. As Link looked over the crew, he only hoped that they had a contingency for getting off Kakariko Island if, or rather _when_ he and Midna were discovered.

As soon as the other ship pulled alongside Link's ship, he guided his ship towards the nearest island, a small rocky island that had at least two visible caves near the shore and possibly more. Once they had arrived, Link released the ship's anchor so that the ship would not drift. He then proceeded to remove the key from its ignition and when he exited the bridge, locked the bridge so that no one could access it or the lower decks. He wanted to make sure that pirates would not be able to steal the ship and that anyone who was looking for him would also not be able to view the ship as suspicious. With the gun ports closed and the bridge locked, it would merely look like a merchant ship, rather than a miniature warship that had armaments that could sink even the largest men-of-war.

Once everything was ready, Link and Midna crossed from their ship to the other merchant ship. The crew of the other ship welcomed them and the makeshift captain then said, "Here she is, all set and ready to go. To give you the best chance of success, though, we're gonna be transferred to Impa and Nabooru's vessel. This ship is big, but it should not be too big for you to realistically be crewed by two individuals, or by one single individual. You could even go into Kakariko to say that you're looking to recruit a crew. Just make sure that your weapons are hidden. Ever since Kakariko Island became the makeshift capital of Hyrule with the sinking of Hyrule Castle Island, many laws of the Castle Island have since transferred over to Kakariko, too." He then handed Link a piece of paper. "This is a permit that should allow you to carry a sword. It managed to get past a scan from a passing frigate but only flash this if you have no other choice."

Link nodded and accepted the paper. He looked at it to see if it seemed even remotely legitimate. Despite the fact that he would be wearing a more casual outfit, he knew that things would be difficult if he had to explain why he was carrying a weapon if weapons were not allowed on Kakariko Island. He looked around the ship and saw that there was a sword on the ship. It looked to be a broadsword that was crafted by Hylian smiths. There were a couple of chips in it, indicating that it had seen some action. Studying the blade, Link felt that it could be useful for helping him pass himself off as a merchant that had been attacked by pirates with the possibility of him and Midna being the only survivors. And if nothing else, it was not the Master Sword or Ordon Sword, meaning that it would be harder to identify him as the hero that Hyrule almost certainly put a huge bounty on.

Once the rest of the crew had transferred on to Impa and Nabooru's ship, Link made one last check of the ship to make sure that everything was in order. The last thing he wanted was to be found with any form of contraband. He did not find any contraband, but he did find some foodstuffs and some containers full of ship parts. He could sell these to add more Rupees to his total, which would be very useful for later on if he had to use his Magic Armor, which he had the suspicion would be necessary. Once everything was ready, he went over to the ship's wheel and directed the ship towards Kakariko Island, following a map that was opened next to the wheel, Midna standing just behind him. As the ship set sail, Impa and Nabooru guided their frigate back out into the open ocean, the two of them wishing Link the best of luck and praying for his success.

It only took a couple more hours for Link's new ship to get within view of Kakariko Island. As the ship neared the island, he could clearly see just how things had changed in the short time that he had been away. The island looked as if it was being blockaded, though he could see holes where small, fast ships may be able to get through, though they would undoubtedly attract the attention of any other ship in the area, as well as alert the security forces of Kakariko to unauthorized entry. Perhaps that was the goal of the blockade in the first place. After all, it was designed to keep unwanted enemies out, rather than keep citizens in.

For once, Link was happy that his ship was not armed with enough weaponry to give even a frigate pause if said frigate had been caught flatfooted. In order to maintain the illusion that he was a merchant, he put all of his weapons, including his Master Sword and Ordon Sword, into his magic sack. By placing them at the bottom of the sack, along with his other weapons, he could bring out the Gale Boomerang, Iron Boots, and his bottled potions and fairies in order to show the security officials that he was not bringing any illicit items into Kakariko. He then strapped the Hylian Sword that he had found on the ship to his back so that he would not be defenseless, though he would not be too concerned if the officials forced him to leave it on the ship. The fact that it had a few chips in it, as well as the worn look of the ship, would help sell the story of him having fought Gerudo pirates if asked why he had a weapon.

Taking a look at the map, he proceeded to guide his ship towards the nearest harbor. As he did so, he quickly saw that his path would take him close to one of the defending ships, a very large galleon. He held his breath as he approached the galleon, he and Midna hoping that their disguises would be enough for them to not be recognized by any officers on the ship's deck, for they knew that the galleon could shatter their ship with a single barrage of cannon fire. As the ship passed his own, several officers looked down at him and Midna, the officers' heads straining as his ship went by. He could tell that they were looking at Midna. He turned to see her scowl. He still was not that used to seeing her in her Human form. For a moment, he was worried that the fact that she looked Human would be a problem and raise some suspicions, but they seemed to be taking no hostile actions. His small vessel proceeded to make its way past the galleon and towards the harbor off in the distance.

He carefully guided his ship into the harbor, being careful to avoid the dinghies and other small boats and ships that were sailing about the harbor. There were a large number of such smaller craft, as well as some swimmers, too. Many of them looked to be having a great time, completely oblivious to what was going on around the rest of Hyrule. There were couples in boats kissing and hugging, teenagers swimming in the water with other island residents hawking their items along the docks. It was as if he and Midna had entered a completely different world. If this harbor were the only thing that one had seen, there would be no indications of the trouble going on in the rest of Hyrule.

Eventually, they found an unused berth and Link guided his ship into the berth. As he was guiding his ship in, two soldiers armed with rifles and swords at their hips came up to the docks and waited for Link to dock the ship. After a few moments, Link finally got the ship lined up in its slip. Once the ship was ready, he extended the boarding ramp so he could disembark.

He and Midna approached the ramp and walked down it, staring at the soldiers as they approached, their weapons at the ready. They did not move yet, though. As soon as he set foot on the dock, he walked along the wooden planks past a kiosk. Stopping at the kiosk, he looked in and found an elderly Hylian male slumping over the counter.

"It's five Rupees to moor your ship here," the Hylian informed him, raising his hand and extending it out, opening it.

Link reached into his sack and pulled out a blue Rupee, which he handed over to the man. He then made his way past the kiosk but the Hylian called out to him, "Sir, I'll also need your name!"

"Madas," Link answered. He did not know why that name came to mind, but he figured that it was better than nothing.

"And your companion?"

"Mida," Midna answered.

The Hylian male then nodded, indicating that Link and Midna could leave. As they were making their way off of the docks and heading towards town, the two soldiers that they had seen earlier formed up in front of him and barred his way.

"Is there a problem?" Link asked, his expression indicating that he did not know why two armed soldiers were barring his entry to Kakariko.

"Yes," one of the soldiers answered.

"The fact that you're new here is the only reason you're not dead," the second one finished.

"Did I do something wrong?" Link asked, sounding anxious.

"Kakariko Island has strict weapons laws," the first soldier stated. "No blades or bows are allowed on the island. In addition, we'll have to examine your sack to make sure that you are not carrying any contraband."

"Oh, okay," Link answered. "Can I take my blade back to the ship?"

"No," the soldier answered. "We'll take it back to the ship, ourselves."

Link was hesitant to hand over his sword but he knew that if worst came to worst that he and Midna could fight his way to the Shadow Temple. Still, that was a last resort that he did not want since the island's innocents could also get caught up in the fighting. Eventually, though, he handed them the sword.

Once they got the sword, the second soldier snapped his fingers and a young Hylian male of about fourteen came out from behind a shack and appeared before them. "Take this sword back to the ship," the soldier directed. He then moved closer to the boy and added, "And if you find some rich bauble or two, bring it to me. I'll even let you keep some yourself."

"Yes sir," the boy said enthusiastically as he raced to carry the sword to the ship.

As the boy departed, the first soldier motioned for Link's sack and said, "We'll have to examine your sack, too."

"No problem," Link answered as he removed his sack and opened it up for them.

The two soldiers looked inside and saw the Iron Boots, Horse Call, Hawkeye, Spinner, and several bottles full of potions, lantern oil, and even a small fairy. When they were satisfied that Link was not transporting any illegal goods, they nodded and told him, "Very well, you're free to move about the island."

"Thank you," Link answered, bowing.

As he went to move forward, Midna went to join him. As she went to fall in behind the hero, though, the two soldiers stopped her, placing their hands on her shoulders. "Not so fast," they told her ominously, causing Link to look back.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, seeing that they had placed their hands on Midna and that she was less then ten seconds away from annihilating the whole harbor if the rage in her eyes was any indication of what she was planning on doing if they did not let her go.

"We have to search your companion, too," the first soldier stated. A lecherous grin indicated that this was not really standard procedure.

"Do I look like I'm carrying a weapon?" Midna blurted out for all in the harbor to hear.

The soldiers scowled as the eyes of several dock workers and other people were now on them. While soldiers carried a lot of power and influence, they did not want a fight to break out here, especially with the news of how the Hero of Twilight had taken two of the temples and may have been going for the Shadow Temple next.

"No you do not," the first soldier eventually stated, releasing his hands from her. It took the second soldier a little longer to do so, prompting Midna to glare at him. The glare must have revealed something to the soldier, though, for he quickly released her and backed away anxious to not be in her presence. Once they had released her, she went to join Link, half so they could get underway, half so that she would be able to resist killing the soldiers who had grabbed her.

Once they were safely away from the docks, they proceeded to make their way into town. When they arrived in the town square, he quickly scanned the area to identify any soldiers or security forces that may have been on patrol or watching from higher locales. He spotted a series of soldiers seemingly on guard duty standing around with rifles in their hands. He also saw some plain-clothes Hylians scanning the area. They did not seem to be armed, though their gazes indicated that they were also either soldiers or law enforcement.

Link strolled about the town square, seemingly gazing around at the various stalls and businesses, many of which he recognized from his previous visit. Midna followed him and kept careful watch on the soldiers to make sure that they did not take any undue interest in the two of them. So far, though, the soldiers seemed to have other things on their mind. Suddenly, though, one of the soldiers seemed to freeze, as if he had either found something or was receiving new orders.

Midna went over to Link and told him, "We'd better be careful. One of the soldiers is acting suspiciously."

Link nodded and then started a conversation to assist in their cover as merchants, saying, "So, do any of these stalls look like they'll be interested in buying any potions or fairies?"

Midna scanned the town square and answered, "Probably not."

The duo continued to wander the town, making it look like they were trying to hawk their items. Link took out his bottle of Rare Chu Jelly to make it seem like he was trying to see if anyone would be interested in buying it. Midna surreptitiously noticed several soldiers mocking him, treating him as if he were a fool for waving around a potion of some sort. Link, seeing no one interested in the bottle, quickly stuffed it back into his sack, not wanting anyone to actually take an interest in it. He knew that such a potion would be needed in the later stages of his quest.

Meanwhile, Midna carefully studied the positions of the soldiers and she soon noticed the soldier that had been standing still move again. He went over to another soldier and whispered something into him. After he was finished, he took out a bell and rang it three times. That seemed to be a signal for the other soldiers, for they immediately formed up without missing a beat and left their previous posts to join the other two. They immediately proceeded to make their way to the south, their weapons drawn. Link also noticed the sudden movement of the soldiers.

"What do you think that's about?" he asked, pondering what could cause the soldiers to abandon their posts and move to the south. The fact that they had their weapons drawn indicated that there could be some enemy that they were going to meet.

"Another raid?" he heard a male Hylian denizen of the island almost scoff. He looked to be in his late teens to early twenties. He was standing next to a Hylian woman of the same age whose expression mirrored her companion's own contempt. "Don't those rebels know it's impossible to raid the island?"

"Yeah," the woman answered. "They're so stupid. It's almost as if they want to die."

Link suppressed a scowl. Apparently, these two seemed to be in full support of the current regime. While a part of him wanted to correct them, he would not have been surprised if they were completely unaware of the sinking of Hyrule Castle Island and the death of Prince Daphnes. As such, he simply walked away, Midna following close behind. They could hear the two Hylians scoffing and making derogatory comments about Midna since she was a Human.

As they made their way towards the northeast part of the town square, passing more businesses that actually may have had an interest in their wares, Midna tapped Link on the shoulder, pointing towards the path, the hero having been looking everywhere but the path.

"Hey, Madas, perhaps we could find someone interested in our wares up there."

"It's worth a shot," Link shrugged.

The two trudged up the narrow grassy path and eventually found themselves in the dreary graveyard. Link was all too familiar with the graveyard, having been here with Tetra when they had evacuated Prince Daphnes' personal boat. The very weather seemed to change as they entered the graveyard, for while it had been sunny without a cloud in the sky, now it was cloudy and looked to be on the verge of raining. He also had a feeling that back in town, the weather was as sunny as it had been five seconds ago and that the cloud cover was exclusive to the graveyard. Not letting the weather change dampen their mood, they made their way through the graveyard.

They followed the stone path up the hill, passing by a series of graves that marked the resting places of the ancestors of Hyrule's rulers. As they walked past the graves, Midna could not help but sense the concentrations of hatred and sadness in the graves, indicating the presence of Poes.

"You should get your sword out," Midna told Link quietly. "And make it the Master Sword. I sense that there is evil here."

Link nodded but did not want to start drawing any weaponry until he had no choice. He could feel eyes on him and he strongly suspected that the Dark Shadow Sage and Bongo Bongo were studying them. As such, he made his way up the hill and followed the stone path until it came to its end and he found two graves flanking a large stone with a large ledge overlooking the area. Link recognized the ledge as the entrance to the Shadow Temple. As he approached the ledge, his hair began to stand on end. Even he could sense the darkness pervading this area.

He was quickly drawn towards grave marker positioned in the middle of the flat area of the hill. Going up to the stone, he looked down at it and read, _In these vaults lies the Kings of Hyrule's Past_. After looking up, he glanced at the stone to the left of the grave marker. Going over to it, he read it, the stone reading, _Here lies Sharp the Elder_.

As he read the stone, a Poe suddenly apparated into being right behind him. Noticing this, Midna called out in warning, "Watch out!"

The hero immediately sprang into action, diving out of the way as the Poe lunged towards him. He quickly rolled up into a fighter's crouch and turned to face the Poe. This Poe looked different from all of the other Poes that he had faced in the past, even the Poes inside the Forest Temple, for while this Poe still carried a lantern, the lantern was stylized and the ghost was also armed with what looked to be a rapier of some sort. He wore a dark maroon cloak, had orange hair and an orange mustache and wore what looked to be a naval cap with a red symbol that Link took to represent the sun.

Link immediately realized that since he was dealing with a Poe that he would either need to transform into his wolf form to take on the ghost or deal with it using the Master Sword. He decided that it would be better to fight using the Master Sword. He opened his sack and immediately pulled out the sword and strapped it to his back. The ghost must have either recognized the sword or sensed its power, for it immediately backed off a few feet and vanished from sight, its lantern being the only thing visible. Link considered drawing out the Light Arrows to deal with this spirit, but something in the back of his mind told him that he should not use the arrows against this Poe, that he should use them against the barriers and against the Royal Family and any of their strong servants that the Master Sword would not be able to reach. The ghost's lantern quickly began to spin and it charged towards the hero. Link instinctively raised his Hylian Shield and let the lantern bounce off of it. After the lantern bounced off of the shield and slowly floated a few feet away, Link glanced past the ghost and saw Midna looking at him, asking if she should help him, but he shook his head, indicating that everything was under control. As he looked past Midna, the ghost reappeared, giving Link a chance to strike. And strike he did. He quickly charged the ghost and thrust the Master Sword at it, the sword biting into the spirit as if it were made of flesh and blood. The thrust was not sufficient to destroy the spirit, but it certainly inflicted injury, for the cloak began to look a little tattered and the ghost backed away, disappearing from sight again.

While Link engaged Sharp, Midna kept watch to make sure that no other spirits appeared and tried to blindside the hero. As much as she wanted to help him fight, she knew that it would be best to not reveal her presence to anyone in the graveyard, for she was certain that the Dark Sage and Bongo Bongo were watching the scene before them. If they knew that Link was here, they would almost certainly be searching for her, too. Right now, though, her primary objective was to keep the fight a one-on-one fight between Link and Sharp. Still, she was certain that their fight would quickly draw in other spirits.

Sure enough, she noticed a second ghost appear and rise from the tombstone opposite Sharp the Elder's. This ghost was similar in some respects to Sharp, but it seemed to be a little taller than the ghost facing off against Link. In addition, he had a blue cloak and seemed to almost have a bluish hue about him, as opposed to Sharp's orange. The lantern was also a whitish orange, rather than the darker orange of Sharp's and his expression seemed to be lighter and far less dour than Sharp's. In addition, his hat also had a symbol that seemed to represent the moon, as opposed to the sun.

"Link we've got company," Midna called out to the hero in warning.

Link turned to see the other Poe approached the battle to support Sharp. "Do you want me to help?" Midna asked, though her tone clearly indicated that she expected to be called to assist.

"No," Link answered. "I should be okay. In fact, this may be just what I needed."

Midna cocked her head quizzically at Link as the ghosts closed in on him. She could see the other ghost move close to Sharp and then float out in front of him. Sharp's expression changed a bit, becoming even more serious and dour. It grunted something but neither Midna nor Link could understand what was being said. The other ghost turned back to Sharp and gave a much lighter grunt, indicating that he would take lead for the moment. That was fine with Link as he readied the Master Sword for a Great Spin. Sharp quickly reappeared and the two ghosts split up to charge at Link from two different directions, suspecting that he would only be able to defend against one of them. Midna began to smile as she realized Link's strategy. He would take them down with a single Great Spin, which he did. Link spun around and released a massive wave of energy from the Master Sword. The wave of energy washed over the ghosts and those single hits were fatal. The ghosts immediately threw up their arms in shock, their eyes wide with disbelief, and immediately burst into magical flames. The flames burnt their cloaks off and the darkness that seemed to make up their bodies withered away until all that remained was their lanterns. With nothing to hold the lanterns up, they fell to the ground and immediately shattered, releasing two flaming faces, one orange, the other blue.

"Arrgh!" the ghosts screamed, though to Link's ear, it seemed to be partially mockingly. "You…killed…us…again!" that last bit sounded more normal.

The two flames then separated from each other and backed away a few feet. "I am Sharp the Elder," the orange flaming ghost face stated plainly.

"And I am Flat the Younger," the blue flaming ghost echoed.

"And we are the Royal Composer Brothers," both ghosts said in unison.

"Why did you attack us?" Midna asked, coming over to Link.

"We only attacked the Hero," Sharp answered. "And it was only as a test. We had heard rumors of the return of a great hero. For a second, we wondered if it was the Hero of Time. Alas it was not him, but when we saw the Master Sword, we knew that this hero was worthy of whatever Hero title was given to him."

"You are here to enter the Shadow Temple overlooking this hill, correct?" Flat began.

Link and Midna nodded.

"There are a lot of undead soldiers inside the Shadow Temple that work for its current occupants. They consist of Redeads, Gibdos, Stalfos, as well as others. You'll want to have an edge if you go in to face them."

"What edge are you talking about?" Link asked.

"An ocarina song," Sharp answered. "Back while we were alive, we were researching magical music and instruments. We would have been famous if Ganondorf had not tried to steal our research, which we took to our graves. Fortunately, he was unable to get it, though it appears as if some in the Royal Family may have learned of it."

"What do you mean?" Midna asked.

"We have heard of the Royal Family using an Ocarina song called the Song of Storms," Flat answered. "That was my song. The Sun's Song, the song you'll find in the tomb below, was my brother's creation, or rather, discovery."

"The two songs, the Sun's Song and the Song of Storms were not normal ocarina songs that used normal magic," Sharp explained. "They seemed to have a different purpose. They were different from every Ocarina song, even the Song of Time. They have clear effects besides simply being able to change the weather or the time of day. The Sun's Song has the ability to freeze the undead in their tracks while the Song of Storms can wash away curses and even heal souls. If you go into the tomb below, you can learn the Sun's Song yourself. I would rather you go in yourselves, for I would not risk speaking openly about our research out in the open, even in Kakariko Graveyard."

"Okay, but how do we open the grave?" Midna asked.

Looking at Link, Flat answered, "You must show your connection to Hyrule's Royal Family."

Link immediately knew what Flat was talking about and he immediately drew the Ocarina of Time out of the sack. Putting it to his lips, he played Zelda's Lullaby before the Royal Family's tombstone. Once he was finished, he quickly stepped back as he noticed several clouds begin to form above the stone and lightning crackle amongst them. He retreated even further as the symbols on the tombstone began to glow and he heard Sharp and Flat cry, "Get back!"

He and Midna wisely obeyed as a lightning bolt suddenly came crashing down onto the stone and shattered it with a single hit, blowing it to pieces and sending fragments flying through the air. Link raised his shield to protect himself and stepped in front of Midna to intercept any stones that may have been headed her way.

After the explosion, Link gazed at the area where the stone had once been located and found a hole in the ground large enough to fit a person. Knowing that he would have to go into the crypt to learn the Sun's Song as well as Flat's Song of Storms, he made his way right to the hole and promptly jumped in, Midna following him down into the crypt.

Upon landing on a glowing platform that seemed to be a warp back out of the tomb, Link and Midna stopped and studied the situation. There was a small incline that led to the first room. Upon entering the room, the door slammed shut and bars slammed into the ground, behind him, trapping him in the room, for bars slammed down on the door up the stairs at the other end of the room, flanked by two unlit torches. It was obvious that a puzzle needed to be solved for him to make it past the room. The first thing he did was to scan for enemies, looking around and seeing only bones. It was wise that he did, for the room was infested with Keese. Not wanting to alert the Keese to his presence, he took out his slingshot proceeded to shoot them down from their perches one by one. One shot was more than sufficient to take down each Keese. Once they were eliminated, the bars rose from the door and a chime sounded, indicating that the puzzle had been solved. Link then proceeded to make his way through the room. As he did so, he spotted two skeletons along the walls.

"Hold on," Midna said, holding up her hands.

"What is it?"

"I can hear the spirits whispering in this room."

"What are they saying?"

Midna closed her eyes for a second and then opened them once more. "They say, 'Those who break into the royal tomb will be obstructed by the lurkers in the dark; and, 'Shine light on the living dead'."

The last part was obviously about the Sun's Song. Given the reference to the lurkers in the dark, Link also suspected that he would face some ReDead Knights or Gibdos, too. "Can you sense anything else down here?" he asked Midna.

Midna nodded. "Plenty," she answered. "The next room is infested with ReDeads. These ReDeads are different from the ones you've faced before, though. These will paralyze you with a scream if you get within their range, but they aren't armed with a sword and they're also blind so you may be able to sneak past them if you're quiet."

That was heartening as the hero proceeded to make his way towards the door that led to the next room. As he did so, Midna shed her Human disguise and faded into Link's shadow, not wanting to be a potential liability by moving too noisily. Besides, she could surprise them by attacking from behind if they tried to paralyze Link with their screams. Once Link approached the door, he lifted it open and went on through.

The next room consisted of a small corridor opened into a large chamber that had a pool of green liquid in the center. The liquid also had several tributaries that fed smaller pools as well, which made the room a maze. Steam rose from the pools and Link could tell that the pools were poisonous. The moment he entered the room, he could hear a series of low moans that sounded like all of the hopelessness, sadness, and pain of the world given voice. Scanning the chamber, he quickly identified the sources of the moaning as being the ReDeads, zombies that were either standing upright or curled up in the fetal position.

Link carefully emerged from the shelter of the narrow corridor and entered the larger chamber, all the while the ReDeads moaning a mournful sound that Link could tell was causing Midna's hair to stand on end, even though she was protected inside his shadow. Walking carefully and quietly, Link made his way to the left side of the room, ignoring the runes along the wall and keeping his sword sheathed. He did not like not having his weapon ready in this situation, but he did not want to risk a sudden movement or sound alerting the ReDeads to his presence. His patience and stealth were well rewarded, for he managed to make it past the ReDeads without alerting them to his presence.

Once he arrived at the far end of the chamber, he went through a narrow corridor and arrived in a room that had a set of stairs and a large door at the end flanked by two lit torches. There was a stone walkway that was surrounded by more poisonous liquid that Link crossed in order to reach the door. There was a visible inscription on the door as well as a Triforce symbol above it. Link was not interested in what was behind the door, though, he was more interested in what was inscribed on it.

When he arrived at the end of the path and at the door, he stopped and read the inscription. It read: _This poem is dedicated to the dearly departed members of the Royal Family:_

_The rising sun will eventually set._

_A newborn's life will fade._

_From sun to moon, moon to sun…_

_Give peaceful rest to the living dead._

When Link had finished reading the poem, he could only feel that it had something to do with the Sun's Song that the Composer Brothers had mentioned.

"Hey, look here," Midna said, emerging from his shadow and pointing down at another inscription on the tomb.

Link did so and he saw a musical bar and some notes. While he was not necessarily a skilled musician, he did have some rudimentary knowledge on how to read music. And these notes seemed easy for him to read. He pulled out the Ocarina of Time and began to play the song inscribed on the stone, figuring that it had to be the secret melody of the Composer Brothers. Next to the inscription of the song, there was a second inscription: _Keep the Sun's Song in your heart_.

He played the upbeat song, which quickly ended on a high note. The moment he finished the song, a wave of light washed over him and he felt as if he were standing in the middle of the sun during a nice spring day. The relaxing light was more than enough to lift his spirits.

"Well done, brave hero," came the familiar voice of Sharp the Elder. Turning around, the two saw the familiar forms of Sharp the Elder and Flat the Younger.

"You have learned the Sun's Song," Flat told them. "Use my brother's song to temporarily freeze the ReDeads and Gibdos that you will come across in the Shadow Temple. However, there is another song that will be of use to you on your journey."

Flat then floated forward and produced a ghostly trumpet. "This song I am about to play for you was designed to summon a storm to wash away curses and give water to the land when it is parched. As with the Sun's Song, keep the Song of Storms in your heart."

Flat then played the song for Link, who echoed it on his ocarina perfectly. Once he was finished, both Sharp and Flat applauded him, proclaiming, "Excellent. You have now learned two songs that will help you immensely on your quest. Play these songs in certain areas to summon large fairies that can replenish your health and, if you have magic, replenish your magical power as well."

"Take care on your journey," Sharp told them. "The eyes of the Dark Sage and Bongo Bongo are blocked in this chamber, but they will see you coming once you emerge from the tomb." He turned to face Midna and continued, "I would recommend concealing yourself in Link's shadow. He will need your assistance in order to make it through the Shadow Temple. For while the Lens of Truth was once present in the well beneath the village, a group of pirates managed to acquire it during a raid and you will need to rely on your other senses to be able to identify what is real and what is an illusion. This will also be true when you face Bongo Bongo."

Link nodded, indicating that he understood what they were telling him. With that, the two brothers disappeared from sight. Once the brothers had vanished, Midna faded into Link's shadow and the hero then changed back into his Hero's Clothes, knowing that the protection they afforded him would be essential as he traveled through the Shadow Temple. Once he was ready, he retraced his steps back to the tomb's entrance. As he made his way through the room with the ReDeads, he stopped at the entrance and played the Sun's Song. The moment it was finished, he heard a strange sound and studied the ReDeads. They were frozen solid, their bodies turning a pale white in the process. Not wasting time dealing with the undead creatures, Link made his way past them and exited the chamber. Making his way through the room that had contained the Keese, he proceeded through the chamber, hurrying through the door and to the warp tile. Once he arrived at the warp tile, he stepped on it and let it carry him out of the tomb and back into the graveyard.

Once he returned to the graveyard, he quickly focused on his new task: finding out how to reach the Shadow Temple, for the ledge that led to the Shadow Temple was high above the ground and a fence blocked access to it. Scanning the surrounding area, though, he found a large plant growing just underneath the ledge that he had not noticed before. It looked large enough to support him and a feeling inside of him told him that it would take him to his desired destination. Stepping onto the plant, it immediately lifted him into the air and took him to the entrance of the Shadow Temple, stopping a few feet above the fence to allow Link to jump it. Link did so and they proceeded to make their way down a series of steps that led them through a small tunnel.

They soon came upon a large number of torches and a small stone platform in the middle of them. There was a large stone door beyond the torches that bore the Sheikah symbol. Figuring that the door would not open until all of the torches were lit, Link stood on the stone and took out the Din's Fire crystal. Opening it, a dome of fire erupted around him and surrounded him. It then spread outward and ignited all of the torches simultaneously. Upon the torches lighting, a chime was heard and the massive stone door began to rise, granting Link access to the Shadow Temple. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for what he would face in the darkness of the temple. Then, with no hesitation, he charged into the temple.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

Link made his way down the corridor until he came to a wall with a face, causing him to stop in his tracks. As he did so, though, he heard Midna tell him, "Hold on, I'm not sensing anything in front of us."

Link stared at the wall and grimaced. The shadows and illusions were already present. He had expected there to be a ton of illusions; he just did not expect them to appear so soon. He wondered what he could do, for the item that would allow him to see through the illusions was not in the temple. He then thought back to the Invasion of Twilight and remembered that his Wolf form had allowed him to see spirits and even identify illusions. He wondered if it could work here. He took out the Shadow Crystal and prepared to touch it to his head, prompting Midna to ask, "What are you planning?"

"We don't have the 'Eye that sees the truth', so I'll transform into a wolf and use my senses to hopefully see through the illusions."

Midna considered the plan, thinking back to the Invasion of Twilight. "It worked before," she commented. Link could sense her approval.

He then touched the Shadow Crystal to his head and he immediately transformed into a wolf. Midna also transformed into an imp-like creature and quickly appeared above Link and landed on him, one of the Fused Shadows being worn on her head as a helmet. Using his enhanced wolf senses, Link easily saw through the illusion in front of him and saw that the wall he had seen moments earlier was fake. He then charged through and made his way down to the corridor until it turned to the right. He then came upon a long pit that was too long to cross. On the other side, there was a Clawshot target on the ledge. Link barked a suggestion to Midna, saying, _Use the Clawshots to pull us across_.

"I can figure that out myself, thank you," Midna retorted with more sass than she usually had in her true form. One of the Clawshots appeared in her hands and she fired it at the target, the claw stretching out until it bit into the stone and pulled the duo across.

Once they had crossed the chasm, they took a few more steps and the corridor opened up into a large square room with a bird statue in the center with a panel and a ring of skull torches, each one with a blue flame on top of the skull, surrounding it, or rather, what would have been a ring if Link's wolf senses had not exposed them as mere illusions. He quickly managed to spot the one real torch and realized that he would have to push the bird statue until it was pointing at the statue that was not an illusion. Committing the position of the real torch to memory, he quickly transformed back into his human form and pushed the statue until the beak was pointing at the real torch. Stopping, he heard a chime sound and the metal grinding of bars rising from a door. However, he was unable to spot the door. Transforming back into a wolf, he used his senses to spot the hidden door. Finding the door, he went over to it, opened it, and proceeded into the next room.

In the next room, he large column that reached up to the ceiling, splitting the room into two corridors that went around the column. Turning to his right, he saw a room in an alcove and proceeded to enter the room, hoping to find an item that would help him navigate the temple.

The next room was a small room with a relatively low ceiling that was full of Keese and two ReDeads that were curled into a fetal position. The moment Link entered, the zombies rose and began to moan. Knowing that time was of the essence, Link quickly transformed back into his human self and drew out the Ocarina of Time. He then played the Sun's Song as the ReDeads stared right at him and emitted piercing screams. The sound of the song, however, must have drowned out the screams, for they did not have any paralyzing effect on the hero. Instead, the effect of the Sun's Song took precedent and froze the ReDeads in their tracks. Wasting no time, Link drew out the Master Sword and performed a Great Spin and bisected the zombies, destroying them with single hits, along with a few Keese that were too low to the ground to avoid the attack. The others, however, were high enough up to avoid the spin attack and began to dive down upon Link before the sword could charge up again to allow Link to perform another spin. This was not a problem for the hero, though, as he quickly managed to intercept the bats and cut them in half with single swings of his sword.

Once the Keese and ReDeads were gone, a golden sparkle of energy began to orbit a point in the room, which meant that a treasure chest was forming in the center of the room. Once the chest had fully materialized and the sparks had vanished and the chimes faded, the hero went over to the chest and opened it. Looking inside, he saw that it contained a scroll, likely a map. Taking it out and opening it up, he found that his suspicious were quickly confirmed. He studied the map carefully so that he would hopefully not be too reliant on having to transform into a wolf and back to normal throughout the temple. With nothing more to find in the small room, Link returned to the corridor.

Out in the corridor, he decided to try to navigate it without relying on his Wolf form, just to see how far he could get. Following the map, he managed to make his way through an illusory wall and he found a clay jar along a wall. Drawing his sword, he shattered the jar, which revealed a yellow Rupee. He soon spotted another jar and shattered that one too, taking the yellow Rupee inside. Looking at the wall to his right, and at the locations of the previous jars, he suspected that the wall was an illusion. Turning to the wall, he walked straight towards it, and passed through it, revealing that it, indeed, was an illusion.

In the next section of the corridor, he followed the narrow path, finding three clay jars along the path and shattering them, revealing three more yellow Rupees. Eventually, he came to the end of the path and a door was revealed. Checking the map beyond, he figured that the room contained another treasure. Going over to the door, he opened it and made his way through.

In the next room, he was confronted by a surprising scene. The room itself was quite plain save for a half dozen deathly pale white hands sticking up from the ground. He strongly suspected that these hands were part of a much larger and more dangerous creature that was burrowed underground. However, the muddy ground did not show any signs of a creature having dug a hole underneath of it. Link carefully made his way to the center of the room, where he was safely out of reach of the deathly pale hands, and transformed into a wolf to try to see if there was anything that his wolf senses could pick up. Sure enough, he found a darkened patch of ground near two of the hands. Turning back into a human, he took out a bomb and tossed it over to the dark patch of ground. As he waited for it to detonate, he drew the Master Sword and prepared for a battle.

After a few seconds, the bomb detonated and blew open the dark patch of the ground, sending organic debris scattering all around the room. Immediately, a creature rose from the hole. It looked like a hunch-backed humanoid creature with a skeletal face, and two arms. It shambled its way over to Link, its large bell-shaped abdomen concealing any feet it may have had, assuming it had feet and its movement was not merely by shifting its bell-like abdomen. The head, which Link suspected was its weak spot, was too high for Link to reach with his sword, so he simply waited for the creature to approach and lean down to try to take a bite. The Deadhand would be in for a big surprise when it tried to do so.

As the Deadhand approached, Link could hear a deep, horrifying laugh containing all the sadism that he could comprehend in the world given voice. It was supposed to horrify the hero and intimidate him. It failed to do so. Link stood ready to face down the beast and when it bent down to bite him, he unleashed a Great Spin. The energy wave unleashed by the Master Sword washed over the head of the Deadhand and it glowed red as it took damage from the attack. However, the strike was not sufficient to kill the creature and it came back at Link, lunging its long neck towards the hero so it could take a bite out of the hero. The hero raised his shield and the monster's face smashed into it, bloodying it. Link then responded by repeatedly slashing at the undead creature, each slash leaving large furrows in the creature's head. Soon, a ring sounded and a spark ran down the Master Sword, indicating that the hero could perform another Great Spin. Link immediately performed the attack and a second wave of energy lashed out at the Deadhand. That final attack was sufficient to put down the creature. The Deadhand gave one last cry before it fell to the ground and writhed slightly in its death throes.

Once the Deadhand was destroyed, a golden sparkle of energy came into being and orbited a spot in the center of the room, the telltale indication of the materialization of a treasure chest. Once the treasure chest was fully materialized, Link went over to it and opened it. Inside the chest, he saw a pair of boots and a scroll next to them. Taking out the boots and the scroll, he opened the scroll and read it. According to the scroll, these boots were known as the Pegasus Boots and they also had a Roc's Feather attached, giving them a colloquial term as Hover Boots. With the boots, Link's speed could increase and he could jump gaps that would be too long for him to jump normally with the help of the attached Roc's Feather. However, the feather also came with a liability: it would decrease his traction, making it hard to maneuver, though he could use the boots to walk on water.

With the Pegasus Boots in hand, he proceeded to make his way out of the room and go back the way he came. Not wanting to have to navigate the corridor by memory, he quickly transformed into his Wolf Link form and used his senses to make his way back into the room with the skull torches. At the end of the room, he saw a platform that looked like a tongue sticking out. That platform was too far for him to jump even in his Wolf form, but he suspected that the Pegasus Boots would allow him to make the jump pretty easily. Transforming back into a human, he put on the boots and ran straight at the tongue. The moment he left the footing of the ledge, a yellow platform of energy formed underneath his shoes and he could feel himself walking on air across a very deep chasm. He was only able to walk on air for a second before the shoes seemingly gave out and he began to fall, but that single second was more than sufficient for him to cross the distance and manage to reach the tongue. Once he had reached the platform, he took off his Pegasus Boots and put his normal boots back on. Once that was finished, he proceeded through the opening archway and through the next corridor.

The next corridor opened into a room with a single Beamos statue situated in the center of the room. This Beamos looked far different from the ones that Link had encountered previously, for this one looked to have been made of stone with a single large stone eye on the top that slowly spun around as if searching out targets. It looked to be even sturdier than the previous Beamos statues that he had faced. Not wanting to have to worry about the Beamos, and feeling that an arrow to its eye would not be sufficient, Link stayed back until the statue was looking away and then took out a single bomb and tossed it towards the Beamos. The bomb struck the Beamos right in the eye and exploded. The explosion blew apart the lower base of the Beamos and sent the eye flying. The eye flew through the air and soon began to fall. Just before hitting the floor, the eye, too, exploded. As it exploded, it dropped several bombs for Link. Seeing that they were not active, Link went over and picked them up, placing them in the Bomb Bag that carried his normal bombs. With the Beamos having been dealt with, Link was free to explore the room without threat.

Scanning the room, he found several weak looking walls that were almost certainly destructible by bombs. Still, something felt off about the walls so he decided to transform into a wolf to see if they were real, or simply another illusion. Using his wolf's senses, he spotted the illusory walls in the north and south quadrants of the room, though the wall to the east was actually real. Transforming back into a human, he went over to the bombable wall in the east and took out a bomb. Laying it at the base of the wall, he lit the fuse and then ran back to the center of the room to escape its blast radius, covering his ears so his hearing would not be damaged. The bomb detonated and the explosion blew through the wall as if it had been made of tissue paper. Link then moved past the wall and was confronted by a door that had a silver lock and chains on it. He was not surprised at the sight and he realized that he would need a key to open the door. Remembering the two false walls, he strongly suspected that one of them would have the required key. Seeing that he was slightly closer to the south door, he made his way to the door through the wall and opened it.

The room he entered was small and cramped. It was almost certainly constructed as a storage area or a hiding area. As for the occupants, it consisted of a single mummy that began to moan just like a ReDead, meaning that this was almost certainly a Gibdo. Not wanting the Gibdo to freeze him with his paralyzing scream, Link whipped out the Ocarina of Time and quickly played the Sun's Song. As he did so, a wave of light washed over him and the Gibdo froze in its tracks. Link then drew the Master Sword and bisected the mummy with a single slice.

With the Gibdo destroyed, a golden sparkle of energy, which seemed to becoming more and more common in Hyrule, began to orbit a point a few feet away from the Gibdo. After a few seconds, a large treasure chest materialized in front of the hero. Going over to the chest, the hero opened it and looked inside. Inside the chest was a compass. Link already had a compass, but he felt that there was something different about this one. Perhaps it would be like the one from the Forest Temple. He reached in and picked it up. After that, he took out his map for the Shadow Temple and studied it. Sure enough, there were new markings on the map that strongly resembled treasure chests. There was a treasure chest mark on the map of the room to the north of the previous room. Knowing that that was the location of the key that would hopefully open most, if not all, of the doors inside the temple, he exited the room and made his way to the north, passing through the false wall and heading through the door to enter the northern room.

The next room was much different from the previous areas of the temple that he had visited. While the room was devoid of enemies, there were large wooden beams strewn about the room that would have made good benches. The hallmark of the room, though, were the two hooded statues, each with scythes that were spinning around. The scythes were positioned so that they would cut a person in half right at the chest if they did not roll underneath them. There was also a line in the sand on the floor in the shape of an octagon that seemed to be the perimeter of the danger area of the scythes. In addition, Link could see a number of large silver Rupees in the room. He strongly suspected that they were part of a larger puzzle but he did not know why it would consist of so many very valuable gems. Nevertheless, Link went about collecting the Rupees in order to complete the puzzle. To make life easier for him, he proceeded to transform into a wolf, hoping that his shorter stature would allow him to avoid the spinning scythes more easily. Before proceeding, he glanced back to Midna and barking at her, telling her to keep her head down while he collected the Rupees.

The first Rupee was right in front of him, close to the scythe. He when he collected it he heard a melody sound, confirming that it was part of a puzzle. Scanning the room, he found a second Rupee on a wood beam a few feet away. When he collected this jewel he heard the same melody only its pitch was slightly higher. The third Rupee was located in the southeast corner of the room. Making his way underneath the scythes and past a long wooden beam, he collected the Rupee and heard the same melody once more, only higher in pitch. The fourth Rupee was located in an alcove on the western side of the room. Midna ducked as scythes passed overhead, the scythes missing taking off some of her hair by millimeters. When he collected the Rupee, he heard the same chime, only at yet a higher pitch.

The fifth Rupee was located on top of a stack of wooden crates that had a Clawshot target above them. Knowing that he needed to retrieve the Rupee to complete the puzzle, he made his way to the northern corner of the room outside of the octagon. He then transformed back into his human form, Midna retreating into his shadow, and he jumped on top of a wooden beam. Turning to the west, he found the Clawshot target and the Rupee sitting on top of it. After firing his Clawshot at the target, he let the chain pull him into the Rupee. The moment he did so, he heard the familiar chime indicating that the puzzle had been solved, along with a loud thud in the southwest corner. He jumped off of the crates and rolled underneath the spinning scythes as he made his way to the southwest corner of the room. There, he saw a small treasure chest that he suspected contained the key he would need in order to open the door in the next room. Opening the chest, he reached inside and drew out the small silver key that he knew would allow him access to the deeper parts of the temple. With the key in hand, he made his way over to the exit and proceeded back into the previous room.

Once there, he made his way over to the east door, passing through the hole in the wall that had blocked his passage before. When he arrived at the door, he took out the silver key and placed it into the keyhole. When he turned the key, the chains over the door broke and the lock fell off. He then gripped the doorknob, turned it, and made his way through.

The next corridor was the first time he had encountered any truly living resistance in this temple, for facing him was none other then a Knight of Hyrule. The Knight saw the hero approach and immediately leveled his magical halberd at the hero. Link, not having time to draw out his bow and Ice Arrows, raised his Mirror Shield as the Knight fired on him. The blue magical bolts that erupted from the halberd slammed into his shield and were immediately reflected back at the hapless soldier. The bolts slammed into the soldier, melting their way through his armor and severely burning him. The soldier fell over, dropping his weapon. Wanting to make sure that the threat posed by the Knight was completely neutralized, Link then drew his Master Sword and thrust the blade into the Knight's helmet. The blade bit into the soldier's helmet, the metal offering some resistance, but it was not enough to stop from being a fatal wound. The soldier immediately stopped moving and Link continued down the corridor, quickly drawing out his bow so he could snipe any enemy soldiers from afar.

The corridor had several turns before it reached a large drop off. Below the ledge, Link could see several guillotine blades rising and falling at regular intervals. He carefully jumped down and waited for a blade to fall before running underneath it as it was rising before it fell again. Using this strategy, he managed to make his way past the second guillotine and make his way down the corridor.

Eventually, the corridor opened up into a massive chamber with a series of ledges standing over a massive abyss. Before he stepped out into the chamber, though, he could hear Midna's voice at the back of his mind warn him, "Be careful Link, I'm sensing an enemy coming from above."

Heeding her advice, Link stood still and listened carefully for any signs of an enemy. After a few seconds, he heard something that sounded like a rushing wind come from above. He saw nothing when he looked above, but he found a hand-shaped shadow appear beneath him. He immediately ran around the ledge to try to evade the shadow. The shadow followed him for a few seconds until it stopped at a certain point and began to grow larger, something that the hero was quick to notice. Link then stood a few feet away from the shadow and waited for whatever was coming to fall to the floor. It did not take long for the new enemy to do just that.

The enemy that arrived to face Link was literally a large gray disembodied hand large enough to grab the hero with scaly fingers and sharp claws. Link had never seen an enemy like this before but he was glad to have avoided its grasp. All that was left for him to do now was to finish it off. The Wallmaster quickly turned and spotted the hero, scurrying towards him. Link, not wanting a protracted fight, performed a single Great Spin and destroyed the hand, the wave of energy emitted by the Master Sword being more than sufficient to vaporize the creature. With the Wallmaster having been defeated, Link focused on the next puzzle.

Looking out over the massive chasm, Link spotted a series of ledges, each with a guillotine blade, that led to another ledge along a wall. Next to the northern platform was a platform that was suspended by chains that rose and fell at various intervals. First thing was first, though: Link needed to safely cross the platforms without being decapitated. Being carefully to time the rise and fall of the blades, he made his way across the platforms, being careful not to blunder into any guillotine blades as they fell. He waited for the blade to start to rise and then ran underneath it so he could get a running jump to the next platform. He did the same thing to reach the third platform as well.

From the third platform, Link was able to spot two Knights of Hyrule standing on the north platform. Unlike others, though, these Knights were armed with muskets. They quickly spotted Link, for he heard a loud bang, along with a metallic ring, indicating that a bullet had glanced off of a guillotine blade. This prompted Link to back off a few steps and take out his bow and arrow. The next issue was for him to decide whether or not he wanted to use Ice Arrows to deal with these Knights, or the tried and true Bomb Arrows. It was a no-brainer for the hero. He would need the Ice Arrows later and there seemed to be a dearth of arrows in the new Hyrule, which meant that he would have to conserve his more utilitarian ammunition such as the magical arrows. As such, he took out a bomb and tied it to an arrow. He then lit the fuse and pulled back on the bowstring. As he did so, he heard more metal pings as bullets bounced off of the guillotine blade. Then, lining up his shot and waiting for the guillotine blade to rise, he let fly with the arrow just as the blade rose to give him a shot at the Knights.

The arrow flew from his bowstring and screamed towards the Knights, who were standing close to one another, possibly hoping that the closer they were, the more likely they would be to hit Link. This only served to be their downfall, though, since the Bomb Arrow landed right in their midst and detonated close to them. Their armor was sufficient to protect them from the shrapnel propelled from the epicenter of the explosion, but the bomb's overpressure and blast wave still sent them flying. They then crashed into the floor where they ceased moving. Link quickly jumped onto the platform to make sure that they would stay down permanently.

The moment he landed on the northern platform, a Stalfos came down from above and landed in front of him, its sword and shield already drawn. Joining the Stalfos was a second Knight of Hyrule. This one, however, carried no ranged weapon, merely being armed with a sword and shield, himself. Link quickly drew his own sword and Hylian Shield and prepared to engage the two enemies.

The Stalfos was the first to strike, charging towards the hero and taking a vicious swipe at him while the Knight attempted a stab. Link dove to his left and rolled around to the Stalfos's rear and proceeded to rise, spinning his sword as he scored a series of hits on the skeletal foe and managed to knock it down. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, Link drew out a bomb and tossed it onto the fallen skeleton. He then backed away from the bomb, as did the Knight, who had been charging towards him. The bomb then detonated and blew the skeleton apart, ending its threat. Then, the Knight came charging back towards Link. The hero saw the Knight's charge and used the Knight's momentum to allow flip over the Knight and perform a Helm Splitter. His sword bit into the Knight's armor and there was a large gash in the Knight's helmet. He deftly landed behind the Knight and before the Knight could react, the hero turned around and he charged the Knight, thrusting his sword forward. The Master Sword bit into the strong armor of the Knight and the armor impeded it to the point where the strike was not fatal, but it was still painful, the Knight issuing a cry. However, the Knight was still able to fight.

The Knight quickly turned around and slashed at Link, prompting the hero to raise his shield in order to defend himself. The half-Hylian hero then retaliated with a strong forward thrust that the Knight caught on his own shield. The strength of Link's thrust, however, pushed the Knight backwards, though. The Knight quickly riposted with a quick slash that Link caught on his shield. The Knight then performed a series of quick slashes and thrusts, each of which were either directly blocked or parried by the hero. The Knight's last attack was a slash that was meant to be a decapitation strike. Link caught it on his shield and the Knight attempted to press Link. The hero responded, pushing back and his strength training along with his half-Human heritage allowed him to overpower the enemy Knight. Link's final push pushed the Knight precariously close to the edge of the platform. Heedless of the danger, though, the Knight prepared to attack again, though Link was keenly aware of his position.

Link rushed towards the soldier, wanting to finish the fight while he still had the edge, for this soldier had a hardy disposition and was more skilled than many of the other Knights of Hyrule that he had faced. When he reached the Knight, he was force to raise his shield as the Knight performed a strong slash at his head. He caught the Knight's sword on his shield but the Knight was not finished. Discarding his own shield, the Knight drew a knife and went to stab the hero. Link quickly backed away from the stab, managing to avoid taking any real injury, but only due to the chainmail shirt that he wore underneath his tunic, for the knife had managed to bite into his tunic. The Knight quickly became cocky at the sight of the hero retreating and checking his torso to make sure that the knife had not pierced his shirt. The Knight grimaced when he saw the silvery links of chain had turned away his knife, but he knew that he was still capable of holding his own against the hero.

Holding out his two blades, he rushed towards Link so as to get away from the edge of the platform. Link simply stood still, waiting for the Knight to approach. The Knight arrived at the hero and performed a slash with his sword just as he stabbed with his knife. Link caught the blade with his sword while he maneuvered his shield into position to catch the knife thrust. Loud clangs rang out as he caught each attack and the hero retaliated with a kick to the midsection of the Knight. The kick forced the Knight back a few steps and Link quickly returned to the offensive. Charging towards the Knight, he readied the Master Sword as he went to slash at the Knight's neck in an attempt to decapitate the Knight, or so it seemed. The truth was, though, that the Knight had made a tactical error in not trying to put his back to the wall, for Link's superior strength meant that there was a chance that he could be pushed over the edge and find out just how deep the abyss was the hard way. And that was Link's plan if he could not get through the Knight's guard.

He went to bring his sword down upon the Knight's damaged helmet and the Knight raised his sword to intercept his attack. As he did so, the Knight thrust with his knife at Link's leg, hoping to hobble the hero. Link backed away a step and the knife stabbed nothing but air. The Knight soon went on the offensive and went to bring his sword back down on Link's head. This time, the hero responded by thrusting his shield at the Knight. The shield intercepted the Knight's slash and the shield's thrust knocked the Knight a little off balance. Link took advantage of the Knight's position of vulnerability to press the attack. Link stabbed at the Knight, who managed to divert the Master Sword away from his heart and have the sword score a glancing hit on the side of his armor. Still, the sword managed to bite into it and when Link withdrew the sword, there was a small hole in the side of the Knight's armor. If he ended up surviving his fight with Link, his armor would bear all the signs of the difficulty of the fight. The Knight then proceeded to thrust his knife towards Link's abdomen. Link intercepted the thrust with his shield and performed a Shield Bash to further knock the Knight off balance, sending him staggering backwards and precariously close to the edge.

As the Knight realized that he needed more defense if he was to deal with Link, he quickly sheathed his knife and stretched out his hand, calling his shield to him. His discarded shield rose from the ground and rocketed towards him, forcing Link to dodge the oncoming sheet of metal. The shield attached itself to the Knight's arm and the Knight was ready to go on the offensive. Link, however, had no intentions of letting the Knight do any such thing, though, and he charged the Knight, thrusting his sword towards him. The Knight raised his shield and intercepted the thrust. The force of the thrust forced the Knight back a few steps and pushed him precariously close to the edge. The Knight then retaliated with a thrust of his own, which Link caught on his shield. This was a fatal mistake on the Knight's part, for Link then thrust his shield forward to force the Knight off balance once more. As the Knight was forced backwards, he felt that his back heel was no longer on solid ground. Link then performed a thrust that the Knight attempted to parry but failed to do so. The sword bit into the armor and managed to draw blood from the Knight but the wound was shallow. Link gripped the sword tightly as he performed a side kick to the chest. The force of the kick was sufficient to force the Knight over the edge and into the abyss, the Knight giving a cry of defeat as he fell.

After the battle was over, Link returned to the center of the platform, breathing heavily. The fight had taken a lot out of him and he was feeling fatigued. When he reached the center of the platform he felt Midna talk to him from his shadow, saying, "Link, I'm sensing some power from that spot. Try playing one of the ocarina songs you've learned and let's see what happens."

Link took her advice and took out his ocarina and played the Song of Storms. The moment he was finished, a storm brewed inside the temple, itself. It began to rain and there were bolts of lightning off in the distance. Suddenly and without warning, a big pink ball of light rose from the ground in front of him and began to float about the platform. Seeing that the ball of light was a big fairy, Link rushed over to it and ran into it. The moment he made contact with the fairy, a refreshing sensation came over him and it began to orbit him, sparkles of energy trailing the fairy. As the fairy orbited the hero, he could feel all lethargy leave him and his damaged chainmail shirt was instantly repaired. After a few seconds, the fairy vanished, its task of fully revitalizing Link having been completed.

Once Link was revitalized, he proceeded to look to his right and found the platform that was suspended by chains rising and falling. Going to the eastern edge of the platform, he waited for it to rise to see just how far it fell and if he would be able to make the jump to it unassisted. Once the platform had been pulled to its highest height, it fell as if the chains pulling it up had been severed. It fell hundreds of feet to a point well below where he was currently standing before it stopped and was being pulled back up. Seeing that a jump to that platform would be risky without the Pegasus Boots, he proceeded to put them on and wait for the platform to fall once more. Once it reached its lowest point, the hero jumped off the platform and let the boots carry him on air for the second before they gave out and he began to fall. That second was all the time he needed, though, for he managed to make a safe landing on the rising platform as it was rising into the air.

He looked out over the edge of the platform and quickly found another platform with a single large Beamos statue and two spiked sliders that orbited the statue. Judging by his jump distance, he knew that he would not be able to make the jump to the next platform until the platform that he was standing on was at the apex of its ascension. He waited for the platform to reach the apex of its ascension and when he felt that it was close, he proceeded to run towards the edge, the decreased traction of the Pegasus Boots making it difficult to accelerate at first. Having taking that timing issue into consideration, though, Link's feet left the platform the moment it reached its apex and it began to fall an instant after he had left it. For a single second, he walked on air before he began to fall. However, that second had been sufficient to allow him to reach the large platform with the Beamos.

When he landed on the platform, he crouched into a roll in order to avoid taking damage. As he did so, he had to stop himself from rolling into a spiked slider. When he rose, he stepped back to avoid being in the path of the sliders. From there, he scanned the platform and found a series of silver Rupees on the platform much like in the room with the spinning scythes, along with a large Beamos standing on a circular stone platform in the center of the ledge. Taking out two bombs, he tossed them over to the Beamos and obliterated it, the eye flying up into the air and landing a few feet away and promptly exploding, dropping more bombs. Underneath the Beamos was a silver Rupee that had previously been invisible to him. The hero promptly collected the bombs and then went to work collecting the Rupees all around the platform. The only remotely challenging part of this was avoiding the spiked sliders, which only required a small bit of patience. Soon, all of the Rupees were collected and a chime sounded, indicating that a door was open.

Before checking out the door, Link went over the northern edge of the platform and put on his Hawkeye to see what was across the chasm. Across the chasm was a door with a silver lock and chains. However, he noticed that the keyhole looked different from the last locked door, indicating that this one required a different key. That was when he realized that the door on the west side of the ledge likely led to the next key. With that hope, Link went to the door and walked on through.

On the other side of the door, he made his way through a corridor until he came across a room with a series of spike blocks rising and falling from the ceiling at fast intervals. The room was wide until it got to a narrow corridor where the spiked blocks took up the entire corridor, though there were ledges above the wall on each side along with bars that made crossing the high ledges difficult. Seeing that the intervals were too fast for him to run underneath the blocks, even with the Pegasus Boots or in his Wolf form, he scanning the first part of the room, Link searched for a way to block the spikes. Seeing nothing usable, he quickly transformed into a wolf to see if there was something hidden. As he had come to expect, there was. There was an invisible block wedged in the wall to his right. Quickly transforming back into a human, he reached in, grabbed the block and pulled it out of the alcove. As it came out, the block became visible, though the wall behind it still showed no sign of there being a hole, indicating that that part of the wall was an illusion. Then, getting behind the block, he pushed it forward. As he did so, he pushed the block until it blocked the first set of spike blocks, the spikes smashing into the stone but not piercing it. He continued to push the block until it was stationed under both spike blocks, preventing both of them from crashing into the ground and skewering anyone who wished to travel underneath them. The hero then proceeded to slip by the block on the left and underneath the spikes.

In an alcove on the right, he found a pair of clay jars protected by a spiked slider. Making his way past the slider, he smashed the jars, revealing a couple of blue Rupees. Once he had cleaned out the jars, he proceeded to make his way past the block and enter a small open cell outlined by metal bars. Inside the cell, he saw a small treasure chest. Opening it, he reached inside and pulled out a bundle of arrows. He grinned at the sight and put the arrows in his quivers, there were enough to fill each of his quivers to capacity. He then ducked out of the cell and went to the rear of the block and pulled it along the rest of the path until he could not pull it back any farther.

The hero then climbed on top of the block and used it to reach the upper ledges above the spikes. He turned to his right and saw a floor switch on the other ledge. Jumping across the rising and falling blocks, which only had their spikes on their undersides, he reached the ledge and quickly stepped on the floor switch. The moment he did so, he heard a chime and the thud of several treasure chests falling from the ceiling. Wasting no time, he went over to each treasure chest and opened them, most of them only revealing some yellow Rupees. But on the ledge above the wall where the block had been embedded, he found another treasure chest flanked by two clay pots. Shattering the pots, he took the yellow Rupees found inside and then opened the chest. Inside the chest was another silver key that looked very similar to the first one he had obtained. With the key in hand, he jumped down from the ledge and returned to the previous chamber and to the platform that had once had the Beamos statue.

Upon returning to the platform, Link quickly made his way north, carefully maneuvering around the spiked sliders. He walked along a narrow walkway until he came to another guillotine. Beyond the guillotine, though, he saw no platforms, though he had seen the locked door earlier. Knowing that there had to be platforms there, he transformed into his Wolf form and used his senses to spot the platform beyond the blade. Timing his jump so that it would occur as the blade was rising, he jumped from the platform and onto the one suspended over the massive chasm. The next platform rode a chain from side to side, so the hero was forced to wait until the platform was lined up with his for him to safely be able to cross. Once the two platforms were aligned, he jumped across and waited for the platform to line up with the ledge that housed the locked door. Once the platform was aligned with the ledge, the hero leapt across the chasm and safely touched down on the ledge. Feeling that it would not be wise to transform into his human form just yet, he let Midna materialize the key from the twilight and open the door. The key fit perfectly into the lock and she turned it. There was a click and the silver lock fell off and the chains retreated. The door then opened and granted the heroes entry to the next room.

The next room was a plain looking room with a ledge at the end that led to another locked door, save for the spikes and Silver Rupees that were situated around the room. There was also a door with a set of bars over it to the west. Scanning the room, he found all of the necessary Rupees and quickly went to work collecting them. Carefully maneuvering around the spikes, he managed to collect all of the ground-bound Rupees without difficulty. All that remained was a single Rupee suspended in midair. Focusing on that Rupee was Midna's cue to materialize a Clawshot and fire it at the stone target that was on the other side of the Rupee. The claw bit into the target and the chain promptly pulled Link through the Rupee. The moment the final Rupee was collected, the door to the west opened. Link moved over to the door and proceeded to make his way through.

The next room consisted of a massive torch in the shape of a skull with a blue flame shooting out from the top, indicating that the skull was hollow, along with two sets of stone stairs that led to a ledge behind the torch. The torch spun around a circular platform and was not fully centered on the platform. Figuring that he had to toss a bomb into the torch to destroy it and reveal whatever was inside, hopefully a silver key, he transformed back into his human form and prepared to make his way over to the staircase on the right.

After transforming and as he was about to move, though, he spotted the still forms of several Keese that were still perched along the walls. Not wanting to risk them interfering with the destruction of the skull, Link drew out his Slingshot and proceeded to pick them off from long range, each seed managing to hit its mark and take down a bat. In less than ten seconds the room was clear of enemies and the hero was free to go about destroying the skull torch.

He climbed up the stairs on the right and spotted a Bomb Flower on the top ledge, along with two clay pots. Ignoring the pots for the moment, he looked out at the torch and tried to judge the necessary distance for the throw. Once he was sure about the timing, he proceeded over to the Bomb Flower, not wanting to waste one of his own precious bombs, and plucked the flower. The moment he plucked the flower, the fuse ignited and he had a limited amount of time to toss it into the hollow skull torch before it exploded. Rushing over to the ledge's edge, he tossed the flower towards the torch as its spin was bringing its opening closer to the ledge. The hero's aim was true and it landed in the torch's hollow top and fell to the bottom. About ten seconds later, the bomb exploded and blew apart the skull torch with it, the hero ducking and raising his shield to protect himself from the shrapnel.

Once the skull torch was destroyed, Link looked out over the edge and down on the platform where the torch had once been standing. Now, there was a plain-looking silver key situated on the platform. Before going down to retrieve it, though, Link went over to the clay pots and shattered them, revealing two batches of bullet seeds for his Slingshot. Taking the seed packs and putting them away, he then jumped down to the slightly elevated lower circular platform and collected the key. With the key in hand, he retuned to the room with the spikes.

When Link entered the room with the spikes, he found that the spikes were now invisible to him, making maneuvering around the room far more dangerous. Using his memory of the room and the locations of the spikes, he was able to safely navigate it without having to transform into a wolf. Still, he walked around the room slowly and cautiously in order to minimize the risk of injury if his memory turned out to be a little fuzzy. Once he could clearly see the locked door, he scanned the wall above the door and noticed that there was no longer a Clawshot target for him to zero in on. He could have sworn that he had seen one earlier while in his Wolf form. That only meant one thing to the hero: the Clawshot target was invisible to the naked eye. Remembering its location from his previous trip, he took out his Clawshot and aimed it at the section of the wall where he remembered seeing the target, as well as where all other targets in such positions had been previously. He then fired the claw and sure enough, it bit into the stone with the chain pulling him up onto the ledge. Once he arrived on the ledge, he took out the newest of his keys and inserted it into the lock. He then turned the key and the silver lock fell off and the chains retracted, just as they had on all of the other locked doors. The door then opened and the hero made his way through.

Link found himself in a plain corridor. Not taking anything at face value, he transformed into a wolf to see what was hidden. Surprisingly, there was nothing hidden in front of him. Still, he decided to remain in this form as he made his way down the corridor until it banked to the right. The moment he did so, he caught sight of two spiked sliders sliding through the relatively narrow corridor, along with a clay monster face off in the distance. Before he could think about maneuvering past the spiked sliders, though, he was buffeted by a strong wind and was sent sliding backwards. He quickly transformed back into his human self and braced himself against the winds. By pushing forward, he managed to hold his ground, though the going would be slow. Soon, just as soon as the winds had started, they stopped and the hero stumbled forward, barely able to stop himself from tumbling into the path of the spiked slider. Seeing this as his best chance to get past the spiked sliders, he ran forward, carefully dodging each slider. The moment he was past them, he quickly put on his Iron Boots and tromped his way forward, the boots allowing him to walk through the wind as he found that the monster faces were nothing more than ornate fans. He made his way down the corridor, making the turn to the left and walking against the fan at the end of the corridor as if it was not even there. When he came to the end of that section of the corridor, he turned to the right and came to a pit that was too far to cross, even with the assistance of his Pegasus Boots. Of course, it did not help that there was a fan mounted on the wall at the end of the corridor. Still, Link was not out of options, for there was a wooden beam mounted above the ledge across the pit. Taking out his Clawshot and shooting it at the ledge, he let the chain pull him across the pit, falling to the ground with a tremendous clank. There, he found himself on the edge of a ledge that led to a lower pathway through a hole in the wall. Carefully stepping over the edge and landing on the walkway below, he made his way through the door and into the next corridor.

The next corridor was full of fans as well. However, these fans were not located at the end of the corridor, but on the walls on either side of the stone walkway. The walkway was additionally perilous due to the fact that there were pits on either side of it. At the end of the walkway was a closed eye switch that the hero found to be a little suspicious. Drawing out his slingshot, he readied a seed and prepared to fire when it opened and launched a slow-moving ball of flame his way. He soon let fly with the slingshot bullet and it streaked towards the eye switch, striking it before the eye closed. The single seed was sufficient to take down the eye, the switch falling from the wall and bursting into flames as it crashed to the ground. Link promptly raised his shield to protect himself from the ball of flame, which splashed against his shield and dissipated harmlessly. He then continued down the corridor until he came to a door. Once he arrived at the door, he took off his Iron Boots and went inside.

As soon as the door closed, Link found himself in a room with a painting on the wall and two ReDeads. Not wanting to risk getting paralyzed by their screams, he whipped out the Ocarina of Time and played the Sun's Song. The song immediately froze the ReDeads in their tracks just as they were rising to face the hero. In addition, another big fairy appeared in the center of the room. Ignoring the fairy for the moment, Link went over to each ReDead and decapitated them with the Master Sword, ending their threat. The hero was surprised that no treasure chest or other item materialized when the ReDeads fell. He then touched the big fairy and felt a refreshing sensation come over him. Seeing little more to do, he went to leave but before turning to leave, his eyes were drawn towards the painting on the wall. Walking up to it, he saw a caption beneath the painting. It said, "Those who have _sacred feet_ should let the wind guide them. Then, they will be led to the hidden path."

Realizing that that meant that Link would need to use his Wolf senses in order to find the hidden path, and then use the Pegasus Boots and the wind from the fans to reach the path, he transformed into a wolf and proceeded to make his way back out into the corridor. Back in the corridor, Link used his senses to quickly spot an alcove in the north wall that had been invisible to him before. Even better was the fact that it was lined up perfectly with one of the fans. Quickly turning back into a human, he put on his Pegasus Boots and waited for the fan to start blowing. When it did, he ran towards the ledge, letting his momentum and the fan safe carry him to the ledge. When he landed, he took off the boots and proceeded through the door.

When he entered the next room, bars slammed down over the door as soon as it was closed. In front of him were two Blade Traps, one merely a few feet away from him and another at the end of the room, a series of clay pots, and two Gibdos. On the other side of the room was another locked door. Taking out his ocarina, the hero played the Sun's Song. Once the Gibdos were frozen, he ran up to each of them and cut them down with single slashes of the Master Sword. As he rushed towards the Gibdos, though, the pots rose into the air and flew right at him. He deftly dodged the pots and let them shatter against the wall. After dealing with the Gibdos, he saw a magic spark orbit a spot in the center of the room, but no chest appeared. Link suppressed a smirk as he realized that the chest was there, merely invisible. Heading over to the chest, he found it and felt around it for the latch that would open it. When he found it, he opened the chest and reached inside. Much to his surprise, though, he only found a Red Rupee. He grimaced. Surely there had to be a key somewhere. He scanned the room and he found a pile of organic debris in the southeast corner of the room. Taking out a bomb, he placed it on top of the pile of debris and ran to the other end of the room to await the bomb's detonation. The bomb quickly detonated and once it did so, the hero returned to the pile to see what was underneath of it. Surprisingly, it appeared as if there was nothing there. Not satisfied with what he saw, Link quickly transformed into a wolf and scanned the area with his senses. Surely enough, he managed to spot a small treasure chest there. Going over to the chest, he let Midna open it and once it was open he reached in with his mouth and pulled out a silver key. Once he got the key, he transformed back into a human and proceeded to make his way to the other end of the room with the locked door. After unlocking it, he proceeded to make his way deeper into the temple.

In the next chamber, he found himself staring out at what looked to be a misty underground river along with a ledge to his right that was too tall for him to get to, as well as a ship that seemed to be docked at the ledge. The ship seemed to be not quite as large as his own ship. It looked to be made out of wood and did not have any visible armaments, though that meant little in the Shadow Temple. There was most certainly an air of magic about it.

Looking to the ledge to his right, there was a ladder stuck to the wall too far above the ground for Link to reach, but he had a sneaky suspicion that he would be able to reach it if he had the assistance of a large stone block. Looking to his left, he found the necessary stone block and proceeded to go over to it and pull it out of its alcove. He went over pulled it out of the alcove, ignoring the ladder in the alcove and focusing solely on getting to the ship. Pulling it along the brick path out of the alcove, once he could not pull it any farther, he proceeded to go around to the block's front and pull it there a few feet before going around to the block's back and push it towards the ladder.

As he was pushing it towards the ladder, two Hyrulean soldiers peered over the edge of the ship and spotted the hero. One of them gave a cry and alerted the others to the hero's presence, as well as Link to theirs. Four soldiers soon joined the first soldier, as did a Knight of Hyrule. Link, having been alerted by their call, proceeded to ready a Bomb Arrow and lit its fuse. Once he lined up the bomb with the Knight of Hyrule, he let fly with the Bomb Arrow. The arrow arced through the air and scored a direct hit on the Knight, blowing the Knight apart before he could level his own rifle at the hero and open fire. The explosion killed one of the soldiers and caused the others to scatter.

Link then hid behind the stone block as the other soldiers peppered the block with rifle fire, bullets glancing off of the block. Link drew out an arrow and notched it to his bowstring. Remaining behind cover until the shooting stopped so the soldiers could reload their rifles. Once the shooting stopped, the hero emerged from cover and took a shot at the nearest soldier, the soldier not having been wise enough to take cover out of Link's firing arc. The arrow leapt from Link's bow and rocketed through the air, scoring a direct hit on the soldier, striking the soldier right between the eye, killing him. The soldier fell forward and off the boat, and into the mist, where Link did not hear a splash, indicating that the hapless soldier may have fallen into a pit instead.

The other soldiers, having reloaded, quickly emerged from their own cover and peppered the area around Link with bullets. Before ducking away from the bullets, Link managed to get off another arrow and take down another soldier. He then took cover behind the block, preparing another arrow. Once there was a lull in the shooting, he emerged from his cover once more and fired another arrow, taking down another soldier, leaving only two more soldiers for Link to deal with, that he knew of. He quickly dove behind the block once more as the two remaining soldiers fired another volley of bullets his way, the bullets glancing off the stone. Readying another arrow, he emerged again and fired at the soldiers, striking one of them in the chest and felling him. That left only one soldier, who fired down at Link's position, the bullet glancing off of the ground mere inches to the hero's left. That shot was a little too close for the hero's comfort. Notching one last arrow to his bowstring, he emerged from cover once more and fired on the last soldier, who fearlessly stood up, took aim, and fired on the hero. The soldier's shot went wide, missing Link and glancing off of the stone block as the hero ducked behind the stone just after releasing his arrow. Link's arrow, however, struck true and pierced the soldier's skull, striking him between the eyes. The soldier fell over and the threat to Link was over for the time being.

With the soldiers from the ship having been dealt with, the hero continued to push the stone towards the ladder on the stone wall. Eventually, he reached the wall and there was a knock as the stone made contact with the wall and he could push the stone no further. He then climbed up onto the stone and then went over to the ladder and proceeded to climb the ladder to reach the top of the ledge. Once he reached the top of the ledge, he turned to his left and ran onto the ship.

When Link boarded the ship, he looked around to see the state of the ship. The bodies of the Hyrulean Knight and two of the soldiers were still onboard the ship. All three were not moving and one of the soldiers had an arrow protruding from his chest. The ship had a long prow that looked strong enough to support a person's weight. There was a Triforce symbol painted on the main deck of the ship. Given that the ship was not doing anything at the moment, Link figured that he had to play Zelda's Lullaby in order to activate the ship and get it moving to whatever its destination would be. As such he took out his ocarina and played the song.

Once he had finished Zelda's Lullaby, he heard the puzzle solution chime sound and he heard a bell ring out over the entire cavern, for there was no other way to describe the space that the ship was in. As the bell started to toll, the ship began to move slowly but surely out of its berth and sail down the river. Link looked ahead to see just how far the misty river, or pit, went and where any safe landing spots were located.

A few seconds after the ship began its journey, two Stalfos came down from above and landed on the main deck, their swords drawn and shields at the ready. In addition, several soldiers and Knights of Hyrule emerged from the lower deck. Upon spotting the hero, one of the soldiers swore and said, "Man, so the others _were_ engaging the Hero!"

The soldiers and Knights did not look to be armed with ranged weapons and even if they had them, opted to draw their swords or axes as in the case of one of the Knights. The living soldiers took one look past Link and saw the two Stalfos and the faces of the soldiers that were visible went ashen.

"Damn, why did _they_ have to show up?" one soldier almost whined, his voice full of dread. The other soldiers' nods echoed the sentiments of the first soldier.

"Because Damos hates us," the Knight replied with mock severity.

Two of the soldiers were ignoring the conversation being held by the Knights and the other soldiers and charged the hero. Link, for his part, was forced to keep his eyes on both the soldiers as well as the Stalfos. The Stalfos also began a quick approach towards the hero, the skeletal soldiers holding their shields over their bodies, ready to intercept any attacks that Link threw their way. Quickly turning towards the soldiers, Link took out a Deku Nut and tossed it right at them. The Deku Nut hit the ground and detonated, emitting a bright flash as it cracked open. The flash of light blinded the soldiers and they stumbled towards the hero as the Stalfos charged him, raising their swords, ready to bring them down upon the hero. Link could hear the soldiers cry out in confusion, "I can't see!"

It would be the last words that soldier uttered, for Link dove out of the way of a sword slash and the blind soldiers stumbled right into the slash, the Stalfos's sword decapitating the soldier. The second soldier also blundered his way into a stab performed by the second Stalfos that the hero had avoided.

The other soldiers and the Knight were not caught so off guard by the hero, though. They decided to stay back and let Link deal with the Stalfos first. A couple of them even went back below deck so they could bring out some crossbows, realizing that the bolts fired by the crossbows would not do much damage to the Stalfos, but would be fatal to the hero. Link, for his part, also wanted the living soldiers to stay as far away from him as possible. To that end, he took out a bomb and tossed it their way. This caused the soldiers to scatter so as to escape the bomb's blast radius. One of the Knights must not have seen the bomb, or cared about its destructive power, for the Knight was a little too close to the bomb as it exploded. Its blast blew off pieces of his armor, scorching other parts, and sent him flying. The Knight landed a few feet away and ceased moving. The damage done to his armor was telling enough, though. The Knight was either dead or dying.

Meanwhile, Link was busy dealing with the more pressing threat of the Stalfos. After avoiding their initial attacks, the hero moved around to the back of one of the skeletal soldiers to perform a Back Slice. He spun his sword, the sword biting into the bones of the Stalfos, breaking its structural integrity and causing it to collapse. He quickly took out a bomb and placed it on the remains of the Stalfos and moved away as quickly as possible before the second Stalfos attempted to skewer him with its sword. This proved to be an unfortunate mistake on the Stalfos's part, for it, too, was caught in the blast radius of the bomb and blown apart. This allowed Link to focus his attention towards the soldiers and Knights that were coming out with crossbows.

He began his fight with them by taking out a Deku Nut and tossing it their way. The nut landed amongst the soldiers and detonated, blinding the soldiers without helmets that completely covered their faces. The hero followed this with a bomb. The blinded soldiers were oblivious to the bomb landing close to them, only hearing the lit fuse crackle for a few seconds before it exploded and killed several of them, the explosion hurling their bodies, and pieces of their bodies, away from the epicenter of the blast. Those that had seen the bomb, however, mostly Knights of Hyrule were able to stay out of its blast radius, and focus on Link, firing their crossbow bolts at him, forcing him to raise his shield to block the bolts.

The battle would not last much longer, though, for the ship suddenly stopped and began to shake. This prompted Link to rise and scan his surroundings, feeling that the ship was about to sink beneath the mist. The other soldiers and Knights must have felt that something bad was about to happen, for they began to look around, looks of dread etched on their faces. Link managed to spot a ledge on the port side of the ship. Not knowing whether or not he would reach it with his normal boots, he put on his Pegasus Boots and ran to the left in order to make the jump. He walked on air for a second before falling, though that second was all he needed in order to make the jump.

Once he reached the ledge he looked back to see the soldiers and Knights peering over side of the ship, taking aim at him with their crossbows. As they did so, the ship listed forward, causing them to lose their balance and slide towards the bow of the ship. The ship then proceeded to descend into the mist, dooming the Knights and soldiers, the last thing being heard from them being their cries of fear and despair as they were dragged down into the depths of the shadows. With the ship having sunk beneath the shadows, Link scanned the ledge for a door and found one against the wall to his right as he arrived on the ledge. Seeing nowhere else to go, he went through the door to see what was on the other side.

The next room looked to be devoid of any furnishings or structures, merely having four doors, one in each cardinal direction. However, Link could hear the scuttling of creatures that sounded close to him, though he could see nothing around him. This prompted him to transform into a wolf so he could see what he was up against. The room changed in an instant. The bare room was replaced by a maze of walls and several of the enemies in it. He made his way past a wall and saw a door on what his map indicated was the north side of the room. As he neared the door, though, he saw an enemy that looked much like the Wallmaster that had accosted him earlier in the temple.

As soon as the enemy saw Link, or sensed him, it turned green and levitated into the air, as if to charge the hero, prompting Midna to ready a paralyzing field of Twilight energy. The moment the creature crossed the field of energy, it froze, scarlet sparks of energy arcing across the hand and the Floormaster returned to its normal gray color. Link then charged it and felled it with a single bite. The Floormaster fell to the floor and ceased moving. Then, the creature did something that the hero did not expect. It then split into three smaller versions of itself. Still, Midna was ready for something like this and extended another paralyzing field around the three mini-Floormasters. Wolf Link then proceeded to blitz the hands, destroying them in a single flurry of bites and slashes. With the Floormaster gone, Link made his way into the next room.

The moment Wolf Link stepped into the northern room, he saw wooden walls with spikes on them to his left and right. They immediately began to close in on him. As they did so, he could also hear the moaning of ReDeads or Gibdos in the room, though the undead creatures were of miniscule concern compared to the walls. Still, Link had the tools needed to get out of this death trap of a room. He transformed into his human self and took out the crystal that contained Din's Fire. He then opened the crystal and a dome of fire enveloped him and spread outwards, incinerating the spiked walls, reducing them to ashes, as well as setting the ReDeads ablaze, too. It took the ReDeads a few seconds to succumb to their injuries, but eventually they fell and the moment they did, a gold sparkle of energy orbited the center of the room and an ornate blue and gold treasure chest materialized. Link promptly went over to the chest and opened it. Reaching inside, he drew out the Boss Key for the Shadow Temple. With the Boss Key in hand, he returned to the main chamber.

Upon entering the main chamber once more, the hero transformed into a wolf so as to be able to spot the invisible walls and any invisible enemies that may have been scurrying around the chamber. He made his way over to the western part of the chamber and saw a door leading to another room.

When he entered the room he found himself in a room with three massive spinning skull torches. It was situated much like the previous large skull torch room, only with the three skulls. Link transformed back to normal and made his way up the staircase to the right and promptly went over to a Bomb Flower to pluck the fruit from it. Plucking the fruit of the flower, it lit and Link tossed it into the nearest skull torch. There, he waited for the torch to explode. When it did, a group of hearts was left in the wreckage of the torch. Link then went over to the next Bomb Flower and plucked its fruit to toss into the second skull torch. After plucking its fruit, he tossed the lit Bomb Fruit into the second skull torch. After a few seconds, Bomb Flower fruit detonated and destroyed the second torch, this time producing a series of bombs. Link quickly rushed down the stairs and scooped up the bombs, placing those that would fit into his Bomb Bag, filling it to capacity. He then went back up the stairs to destroy the final skull torch. He plucked a fruit from the first Bomb Flower and tossed it into the final skull torch when it was the closest to he hero. The bomb landed in the torch and Link waited for it to detonate. When it did, the torch exploded into a colorful display of Rupees. Rupees of all colors, green, yellow, red, purple, and even orange, silver, and gold were scattered all around the floor. It looked as if the skull torch must have had a treasury inside, for he counted the equivalent of at least a couple thousand Rupees in there. Link quickly jumped down and collected all of the Rupees, filling most of all of his wallets. Once he had collected all of the Rupees, he proceeded to the exit and returned to the main chamber.

Once he was back in the main chamber, he transformed back into a wolf and proceeded to the door to the south. Making his way over to the south room, he was accosted by a Big Skulltula that descended from the ceiling. The moment the Skulltula turned, Wolf Link performed a spin attack and felled the large spider, clearing the way to the door. Once he arrived at the door, he transformed back into a human and proceeded to make his way into the next room.

Inside the next room, there were two large torches in the center of the room in an X formation. Link was able to hear the scurrying sounds of an enemy that he strongly suspected was a Floormaster. Taking no chances, he transformed into a wolf and used his wolf senses to spot the Floormaster. The Floormaster was already green and lunging towards the hero, prompting Link to have to dive out of the way in order to avoid the Floormaster. The Floormaster flew past the diving wolf and crashed into the wall, turning back to its normal gray color and stunning itself. Link took full advantage of its momentary weakness and proceeded to charge it, biting it after closing in on the stunned beast. The moment the Floormaster was defeated, it split into three smaller versions of itself. Still, they did not split far enough to avoid Midna's paralyzing field. Once all three were frozen inside the field, Link proceeded to destroy all three of them with a single charge. Once the Floormasters were defeated, a golden sparkle of energy orbited a point in the center of the room and a small treasure chest appeared, just as it had in so many other rooms. Link transformed back into a human and proceeded to head over to the chest and opened it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a small silver key. Once he had pocketed the key, he proceeded to make his way back to the central chamber.

Once he emerged back into the chamber, he proceeded to backtrack to the eastern door and return to the ledge that he had jumped to from the doomed ship. Making his way around the invisible walls, he found the eastern door and went on through and returned to the ledge.

When he got back to the ledge, he looked across the large underground river to a ledge on the other side. On the other side, he found a large bird statue that was surrounded by a thicket of Bomb Flowers. Examining the statue, he judged that if it fell across the chasm that it would be large enough to form a bridge, granting him access to the ledge, and the room beyond. As such, he took out his bow and notched an arrow to its string. Then, after pulling back on his string, he let fly with the arrow. The arrow streaked across the chasm and struck one of the Bomb Flowers, instantly detonating it. Its detonation started a chain reaction as the Bomb Flowers next to it also detonated, as did the flowers next to them, and so on until each of the Bomb Flowers had detonated. The entire reaction blew off the lower legs of the bird statue and it began to wobble unsteadily, listing forward. Eventually, it began to fall forward and its beak crashed into the stone ledge, the beak imbedding itself into the stone, the statue providing a bridge over the river. Link then crossed the bridge and came upon a locked door. Taking out the silver key, he inserted it into the lock, unlocked the door, and proceeded on through into the next chamber.

The next chamber looked to consist of a large chasm between the ledge he was standing on and the ledge that contained the locked door to the Boss Chamber. Quickly realizing that he would need his Wolf form, he transformed into a wolf. When he did so and activated his senses, he realized that crossing this room would be more complicated than he realized, for the now visible platforms were too far away for him to make the jump without his Pegasus Boots. However, he would not be able to see the platforms while in his human form, so he knew that he would have to commit the positions of the platforms to memory as he crossed them. Seeing the first platform right in front of him and lining himself up with it, he transformed back into a human and put on his Pegasus Boots. Then, running forward, he made the jump to the next platform. The moment he landed on the platform, he transformed back into a wolf so he would be able to see where he was going. He saw that the ledge he was standing on should allow him to get close enough to the door for him to cross with the help of the Pegasus Boots, but he still wanted to be in the best position that he could be in to make the jump. He quickly saw a small ledge to the southeast that would give him a better chance if he made the jump, so he transformed back to normal to make the jump with the assistance of the Pegasus Boots. When he landed on the ledge, he transformed back into a wolf to get his bearings so he could make an accurate jump to the ledge with the massive door to the Boss Chamber. Once he was lined up, he transformed back to normal once more and made the jump to the final ledge. It was close, but he was barely able to grab it with the tips of his fingers and pull himself up onto the ledge. Once he was on the ledge, he took off the Pegasus Boots, wanting to have good footing for whatever he was going to face in the next chamber. Once he was ready, he took out the Boss Key and inserted into the horned lock. After fitting the key in the hole, he turned the key and the chains on the lock broke off from the lock as the lock itself turned and fell off of the door. Link then pushed the door open and proceeded to make his way through.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

The Boss Chamber consisted of a plain octagonal room with a hole in the center of the room. Across the hole was a large ball with dark shadow energy crackling next to it, traveling from the ball along two membrane-like structures that extended to the floor and the ceiling. Standing next to the Shadow Barrier was a figure that strongly resembled a Hyrulean Knight only he wore dark armor that had spikes on the shoulders and helmet. The spikes were long and looked to be more for ornamentation than for utility. The Knight was armed with a sword, which was in a sheath at his hip, and had a shield on his back, but in his left hand was a ball of dark swirling magic. Link grimaced as he drew his sword and Mirror Shield. The Knight merely grinned, though his helmet concealed his grin from the hero and drew his sword, a tough, thick broadsword that looked like it had seen a great deal of combat.

"So we finally meet face to face," the Dark Sage of Shadow scoffed, stepping forward. He studied Link, gazing at his sword and shield. "I expected one who was said to be such a great hero to be more imposing," the Sage shrugged, not impressed at the stature of the hero before him.

Link gave no response as he looked past the Dark Sage and the barrier, expecting to see Bongo Bongo, or at least evidence of the shadow beast, behind them. However, there was no sign of the shadow beast. The Dark Sage shrugged again. "Expecting to see Bongo Bongo?" the Dark Sage asked, as if reading Link's mind. "Don't worry, he's not here. It's just me for the moment."

Link said nothing as he held his sword out in front of him "What, nothing to say? No witty comment? The child hero was far more talkative, as is my lord, Link. Don't worry, though. I'll cure you of your muteness. You'll be singing like a professional once I'm through with you, probably soprano, too," the Dark Sage added with a chuckle.

As the Dark Sage was speaking, Link heard Midna's voice echo through his mind, "What are you waiting for? Take down that barrier now."

Link considered doing just as Midna suggested, but something in the back of his mind stopped him as he considered sheathing his sword and bringing his bow out in order to shoot the barrier. He gazed at the Dark Sage some more and saw the Dark Sage's sword become as black as midnight. He quickly realized that the Dark Sage would not give him an opportunity to take down the Shadow Barrier unless he was defeated first. The Dark Sage then shifted his position and proceeded to charge towards the hero, initiating the fight.

The Dark Sage held his sword high as he charged towards the hero, ready to bring his sword down upon the hero's head. Link raised the Master Sword to intercept the blade, not wanting to risk damage to the Mirror Shield. He caught the sword and a loud clang rang out over the room. The moment the Dark Sage's sword made contact with Master Sword, the dark energy field over the blade promptly vanished and it looked to be a normal sword once more. The Dark Sage almost recoiled at the sight.

"What the…? What happened with my sword?"

Link gave no answer as he quickly retaliated with a slash of his own, catching the Dark Sage off guard. The blade struck the armor of the Dark Sage, a shadowy energy field flickering into existence and stopping the sword for a brief instant before collapsing and allow the sword to pass through. Brief second allowed the Dark Sage to dive out of the way so that his armor only took a glancing hit, but that glancing hit still managed to dent the armor and had Link's momentum not been slowed by the shield, the blade may have been able to bite into the armor and actually injure the Dark Sage.

Seeing that Link's weaponry was far more deadly to his own items and defenses than previously believed, he backed off and decided that he would try using magic to defeat the hero. He began the fight by proceeding to extend his own shadow in order to try to use it to strangle the hero. His shadow extended from his body and reached out to try to grab the hero. Seeing the shadow reach out and knowing that it making contact with him would be a very bad thing, he dove out of the way of the shadow. That was when the insidious nature of the attack was revealed, for while Link had managed to dodge the attack, himself, it had still managed to attach itself to his own shadow.

The dark shadow of the Dark Sage's attack began to cover Link's own shadow and grabbed his leg, making the half Hylian's leg feel as if it were now made of solid steel that was stuck in tar. Try as he might, he could not release his leg. Looking down, he could see the shadow traveling up his leg and trying to reach his chest. He quickly realized that he had to do something now or the shadow would cover him entirely and either crush him, strangle him, or do any number of increasingly horrifying things to his body. Seeing that he had little choice, he took out a Deku Nut and threw it as hard as he could at the shadow. The nut detonated and the blinding flash of light overwhelmed the shadow for an instant, causing it to stop rising over his body but it was not enough to dispel it and it only retreated for that brief instant before continuing to make its way up his body, currently covering his lower abdomen. That was when Link realized that he needed a new strategy.

Remembering that the Master Sword was the Blade of Evil's Bane and that it could not only repel evil magic but outright destroy it, he knew that the only way to cause the shadow to retreat and allow him to escape would be to have the Master Sword touch his own body where the shadow was traveling. Readying the sword, he then brought the flat of his blade across his lower abdomen right where the shadow was beginning to make its way up to his chest. Upon having the blade touch his body, the shadow instantly disappeared and he could feel himself returning to normal. Looking across the room at the Dark Sage, the body language of the Sage indicated that he was less than pleased at the recent turn of events.

"Well…that was unexpected," he noted. "No one has ever managed to outright destroy the shadow tendrils that I have sent against them, especially once they have made contact with that person, not even the previous Sage of Shadow. And that Sage was one of the most powerful of the Sages that fought in the war."

The Dark Sage studied Link further and his eyes were soon drawn to the Master Sword. His body language indicated a sigh. "So, the rumors are true. You are armed with the Master Sword." The Dark Sage then readied his own sword once more and continued, "You may wield the Blade of Evil's Bane, but make no mistake, it will take more than a sword to defeat me, even one forged by the Sages and blessed by the Goddesses."

Link smiled inwardly. The Dark Sage was not familiar with the true power of the Master Sword. Perhaps that could be used to his advantage. As for the Dark Sage, he quickly proceeded to launch some more conventional magical attacks on the Hero of Twilight. The first one was a series of magical balls made of Shadow Magic. They were balls made of black and purple energy that looked to be dripping darkness on the ground which formed their own shadows, something Link was quick to catch sight of. He raised his Mirror Shield to intercept the shadow balls and reflect them back at the Dark Sage. Each ball of Shadow Magic struck his shield, the contact emitting a clang similar to metal striking metal, and was sent back to its source. The Dark Sage held out his sword to catch the balls of Shadow Magic, the first ball that made contact covering the tip of his sword with the magic. He then positioned his sword to catch the other balls of magic coming his way. With each ball that made contact with his sword, more of the sword was encased in Shadow Magic. After each ball had been caught, his entire sword was covered in Shadow Magic once more. Link focused on the Dark Sage, knowing that he would not simply go charging into a swordfight with the hero knowing that the Master Sword could dispel his Shadow Magic.

The Dark Sage engaged in his new plan of attack by stabbing his sword into the floor. The shadow that covered his sword immediately stretched towards Link, prompting the hero to take evasive action far earlier than he had before. This time, he was clear of the shadow before it was even close to his own. That was when the Dark Sage revealed the true nature of his new attack. The shadow's edge then maneuvered in its attempt to follow Link. Seeing this, the hero quickly reversed his grip on the Master Sword and rushed the shadow, stabbing it as it got close to him. The shadow seemingly spasmed and cracks of light formed along the shadow before it shattered and disappeared, the shadow being dispelled. Still, Link was not satisfied and he felt as there was something more to the Dark Sage's attack.

Suddenly, he heard Midna's voice scream in his head, "Duck now!"

He obeyed and quickly ducked his head and moved to his right. It was fortunate that he did, for a shadowy sword passed over his head, missing him by inches. He was keeping his sense open and had not heard the attacker approach. Turning around, he saw that his attacker looked to be none other than the Dark Sage, only he was able to see four other Dark Sages of Shadow in the room, three of them having emerged from the dark shadows that had dripped from the shadow balls. He grimaced as he realized that he had no idea which one was the real one. While he did have the option of transforming into his Wolf form and using its heightened senses to identify the true enemy, he knew that doing so would limit his fighting ability, albeit also giving him a new option in Midna's paralyzing field, which would likely be able to paralyze the 'Dark Sages'. Still, he decided that it would be best for him to fight more conventionally until the Dark Sage revealed his full repertoire of techniques.

As such, he began his offensive by slashing at the 'Dark Sage' figure in front of him. As he slashed at him, the figure raised its shield to intercept Link's attack. His sword struck the shield and instantly sliced through the shield as if it were merely made out of wood, the shield dispersing in a blaze of unnatural blue fire. The shadow retreated a bit, his left arm dripping shadow energy as if it was having difficulty maintaining its integrity. This one was clearly a false Dark Sage. That was when the other 'Dark Sages' decided to get in on the action. Two of the 'Dark Sages' stood back while two others charged in towards he hero. The two that stood back unleashed a barrage of black lightning bolts Link's way while the other two raised their swords high and attempted to cleave him into many pieces while the two ranged attackers would sacrifice themselves by forcing Link to use his Mirror Shield to protect him from their attacks, leaving him open to attack by the other two, as well as from the wounded false Dark Sage. Link did as they suspected he would, raising his Mirror Shield to intercept the lightning bolts, but he then did something that they did not expect. He retreated from the others in order to put some distance between him and the two oncoming 'Dark Sages'.

This caught them off guard, the 'Dark Sages' suspecting that Link would not flee from them. As such, when he caught their black lightning and reflected it back at the two 'Dark Sages', they had to scramble to increase their own defenses in order to survive their own reflected attack. It would not matter, though, for they could not increase their own defenses enough to survive their own onslaught. The lightning struck them and began to arc over their bodies. The moment the lightning arced over their bodies, they instantly dispersed, revealing themselves to be false Dark Sages, as Link had suspected they were. That left only the two 'Dark Sages' with the swords and the wounded false Dark Sage, who looked like he, or it, could lose its integrity at any moment.

Link, not wanting to have to engage in a swordfight if he could avoid it with these 'Dark Sages', decided to use his bow and arrow to try to disperse them or reveal which one was the real Dark Sage of Shadow. As he drew his bow out, he strapped his Mirror Shield to his back and exposed his back while notching the arrow to his bowstring. The 'Dark Sages' had raised their hands in order to fire a either a dark lightning blast at him or some other magical attack his way, but when he showed them his protected back, they decided on a different course of action. Instead, they called shadows to themselves in order to increase their own defenses. Once Link was ready, he turned and fired an arrow right at them. He targeted the wounded false Dark Sage first so as to get it out of the fight, suspecting that the other two were already forming plans of their own, and fired. His arrow scored a direct hit on the false Dark Sage's chest and the damage inflicted was sufficient to disperse the false Dark Shadow Sage.

He quickly drew out another arrow and targeted one of the other 'Dark Shadow Sages' and fired just as they fired a bright yellow ball of magic his way. The arrow streaked through the air and scored a direct hit on the chest of the nearest 'Dark Shadow Sage'. The arrow bit into the 'Sage' but failed to penetrate the shadow deeply enough to inflict much damage. Still, it caused the false Dark Sage to stagger backwards, black magic 'sludge' leaking from the wound. Link then targeted the other 'Dark Sage' as he drew another arrow and fired on that 'Sage', too. As with the other one, this one only stuck a couple inches into the body, the physical force being enough to push the 'Dark Sage' backwards but not strong enough to inflict a fatal wound on this now revealed to be false Dark Sage. Still, the shadowy liquid leaking from the false Dark Sage indicated that he was still wounded. That was when Link put away his bow and took out his sword and shield once more. Once he drew his weapons, he charged towards the false Dark Shadow Sages, raising his Mirror Shield so that they would not attack him using magic, and when he closed in on them, he performed a Great Spin to finish them off. The wave of energy released by the Master Sword was sufficient to destroy the false Dark Sages, dispersing them as well as any shadows that they had dripped onto the ground.

"Very good," Link heard a voice call from somewhere in the room. "You took down by Dark Shadow Clones with little effort. You most certainly do live up to your name as the most dangerous of the heroes, despite the fact that you do not have any magic that is innate to yourself. However, this is where your life comes to an end. I'm not like the other Dark Sages. Unlike them, I actually _do_ know how to use my powers effectively. Allow me to demonstrate."

With that, Link felt a gust of wind come from behind and he quickly drew out his Hylian Shield and turned around. He felt a weight hit his shield and heard a loud clang ring out over the room, indicating that a sword had just struck his shield. The hero quickly backed away and went evasive, quickly changing into his Magic Armor, knowing that he was about to take a hit. Sure enough, he felt a weight collide with his side and heard a ringing sound as Rupees, the source of the armor's magical defenses, were expended. The loss of the Rupees was a small price to pay for surviving what would have almost certainly been a fatal blow.

"I must say I'm impressed," Link heard the voice of the Dark Shadow Sage echo throughout the room. "But I'm familiar with how magical armors work. Such armor that negates all damage and protects the wearer from all attacks has a significant cost, usually in magical power." Link then felt another strike and heard the ringing of more Rupees being expended from his wallet. "Judging by the fact that you don't have any intrinsic magic to yourself, I would guess that your armor runs on something else, maybe Rupees or some other type of gem such as Force Gems, which were not all that uncommon a century ago. Now, however, they are very rare since they were used by lord Link to power up the Four Sword in order to fight Ganon. As such, I'm guessing that your armor runs on Rupees," the Dark Sage concluded.

Link grimaced as he could feel the Dark Sage's smirk. This foe was different from the others that he had faced. He was far more dangerous than any of the other Dark Sages, the first two having either been destroyed by an enemy that Link had already defeated or was slaughtered by Midna.

"Link, transform into a wolf," he heard Midna suggest inside his mind.

"But I won't be able to reflect his magic," Link countered, thinking back to how the Dark Sage could use his shadow to try and strangle him.

"I'll help out against the Dark Sage. He uses Shadow Magic, which I can counter without too much difficulty, even in my Imp form without the aid of the Fused Shadows. It's our only chance."

Midna had a point. At the rate he was taking hits, he would run out of Rupees pretty quickly and once he did, he would be helpless, not to mention absolutely broke in the event that he needed to buy any equipment for later on in his quest. While he would be in a weaker position without having access to the Master Sword or the Mirror Shield, he would at least be able to know where the Dark Sage was and, if he got in a lucky hit, he could possibly kill the Sage or injure him to the point where he would become visible once more. In addition, his transformation would expose Midna, assuming that the Dark Sage did not already know about her but he felt as if it would be a necessary risk. And if she remained in her Imp form, then he may not have been able to connect her to the Dark Woman that had appeared earlier. As such he made his decision to transform into a wolf and hope that being able to see the Dark Sage would allow the battle to become more even. And if nothing else, Midna's paralyzing field could be used to freeze the Dark Sage and allow him to score some hits on him.

Transforming into a wolf, Midna appeared above him in her Imp form and plopped right down onto his back. Activating his senses, Link scanned his surroundings and found five Dark Sages standing in front of him.

"So, the shadow imp finally reveals itself," they both heard all five 'Dark Sages' note in unison, making it impossible to identify which one was the real one. "I always knew you were there, somewhere."

The 'Dark Sages' grinned as they stepped closer to Wolf Link and Midna. Link snarled at the 'Dark Sages' as they approached him, the wolf backing up a step as they approached and pointed their swords down at him menacingly.

"It's hopeless hero. You need to be a wolf in order to see us, but without your Master Sword or shields, you are at a distinct disadvantage in a fight."

Link had to admit that the Dark Sage was correct. His only advantage was the fact that the Dark Sage may not have known about the full combat capabilities of Midna. If he underestimated her, then he may still have had a chance. And a plan had already formed in his mind. He looked back at Midna and barked his suggestion to her. Midna nodded, knowing fully what he was planning.

The duo let the 'Dark Sages' approach. The real Dark Sage could not hide completely from them. He was visible; the only issue was finding out which Dark Sage approaching them was the real one. They would quickly find out, though, for all of the Dark Sages were now within range of Midna's paralyzing field. Now was the time to strike: and strike they did.

Midna let out a field of Twilight Magic that encompassed all of the 'Dark Sages' that were approaching her. Orange sparks of Twilight energy arced across their bodies and Link went on the offensive. With lightning speed, he slashed and bit at each Dark Sage, dispersing all of the clones with single hits, his fangs and claws being strong enough to pierce even the armor worn by the 'Sages'. Eventually, he reached the true Dark Sage of Shadow and went straight for the throat, the only place on the Sage's body that had relatively light armor. As he leapt onto the Dark Sage, who managed to catch him, and snapped at the neck. His reach was just enough to manage to bite him and inflict a minor flesh wound on him. It was not much, but it was enough for what he wanted and he quickly realized that the Dark Sage was now visible once more.

He immediately transformed back into a human and drew the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. Once he was in his human form, he followed up with a Great Spin, unleashing a massive wave of energy that the Dark Sage was unable to defend himself against. The energy wave washed over him and destroyed his Shadow Armor, as well as piercing his normal armor and inflicting a great deal of damage to his body. Still, despite the power of the attack, as well as his earlier injury from Wolf Link's bite, he was still alive, albeit severely injured. Even with the injury, he was able to fight, which he demonstrated as he fired a blast of magic Link's way.

Link saw the blast coming, though and swept his sword at the ball, striking it and sending it back towards the Dark Sage of Shadow, who was too slow to react to the ball. The ball struck him in the chest and magical sparks of electricity arced over his body and he cried out in shock and pain. The hero then charged him and performed a Jump Attack on him, knocking him to the ground, the blade also biting into his armor and inflicting a noticeable scalp wound on the Dark Sage. Link then performed the Ending Blow on the Dark Sage of Shadow, jumping into the air and landing on top of him, thrusting his blade into the helmet of the Dark Sage, the Master Sword piercing the helmet and burrowing into the skull of the Sage. He then withdrew the blade and placed a bomb next to the Dark Sage's body to make sure that the Dark Sage was truly dead. After a few seconds, the bomb detonated and made the fate of the Dark Sage of Shadow certain.

With the Dark Sage having been killed, Link took off his Magic Armor and then turned his attention to the Shadow Barrier in front of him. As with the other barriers, the hero promptly drew out his bow and notched a Light Arrow to it, the crystal glowing a bright gold as he pulled back on the arrow. He then let fly with the arrow and the arrow streaked right into the barrier, piercing its membrane and burrowing deep into the round barrier. The energy flow from the barrier suddenly stopped and the interior ball expanded for a brief second before it exploded into a shower of golden sparks. The Shadow Barrier was destroyed and Link breathed a sigh of relief. Midna, however, did not share Link's sense of relief or accomplishment. From Link's shadow, she extended her senses and still felt a great deal of energy leaving the Shadow Temple and fueling the barrier over Hyrule Castle, something that she was quick to reveal to Link, emerging from his shadow and appearing to him in her true form.

"Link, something's wrong. I'm still sensing a great deal of power flowing out of the Shadow Temple."

"Are you sure?" Link asked.

"Positive," Midna answered, nodding. "There's no doubt in my mind. We're not finished here."

"Where is the energy coming from?"

Midna closed her eyes and extended her magical senses to try to ascertain its location. Almost instantly, she sensed a great deal of power coming from below them. She motioned to Link, pointing downward. Link nodded and quickly realized that he would need to descend into the pit below in order to reach the true source of the energy emanating from the Shadow Temple. Putting on the Pegasus Boots, he walked over the hole and allowed the boots hovering ability to keep him aloft for the second required before he fell through the hole, Midna following him and floating down to the next level.

Link descended from the Boss Chamber above to touch down softly on a strange surface that almost seemed to give as he landed on it. Midna gently floated down to him and landed softly next to him. Just then, he felt the ground shake a bit and force him into the air. Strangely, there seemed to be a note sound as the ground shook. It soon shook again and he heard another note sound. The ground's shaking soon became rhythmic and he could tell that the note that was sounding was more like the pounding of a drum. The rhythmic shaking of the ground indicated that it was, indeed, being played as a drum. He and Midna were standing on just such a drum. He then looked behind him and found a dark gray beast with two arms, no legs, one red eye, and two disembodied hands that were still under the control of the beast.

"This is the source of the magic," Midna told Link in no uncertain terms.

Turning to see the look in her eye, he could tell that she was absolutely certain about it. "We'll want to use Light Arrows to destroy this thing," she added. "If we can get a clear shot at the eye, it should fall to a single Light Arrow. If a single arrow isn't enough, the Master Sword should be able to finish it off. We'll need to stun the hands in order to get it to expose its eye."

Link nodded and he realized what he had to do. He saw the creature's hands form fists and proceed to charge towards him. He dove out of the way, barely able to do so because of the decreased traction of the Pegasus Boots. He quickly took off the boots and turned to face the hands, one of which began to beat on the drum, causing it to shake and Link to bounce up into the air. He could also hear the beast sing, or hum, in a deep inhuman voice to the beats of the drum. In response, he took out his bow and readied an arrow. Targeting the hand, he fired the arrow at it. The arrow struck true and managed to stick in the hand, but it was merely a pinprick compared to the thick calluses of Bongo Bongo's hand and barely annoyed him. He would need something more than an arrow in order to either stun the hands or freeze them.

Link quickly drew out an Ice Arrow and took aim at the hand that was forming a fist in order to ram him. Adjusting for the bouncing that resulted from bouncing, he targeted the hand, pulling back on the bowstring. As he did so, the ice crystal activated and he could feel the icy energy emanating from the Ice Arrow. Once he drew a positive bead on the hand as it approached he let fly with the arrow. The arrow scored a direct hit on the disembodied hand and ice began to form over the hand, spreading until it encased the entire hand, causing it to fall to the ground and stop moving.

The other hand promptly stopped beating the drum and proceeded to form a fist and take aim at the frozen hand. Bongo Bongo must have been trying to free his frozen hand. The beast also grunted in discomfort and seemed to shiver. Link was not about to let the beast free its frozen hand, though, and drew out another Ice Arrow. Pulling back on the bowstring, he targeted the hand, a task that was much easier now that the shadow beast was not beating the drum, and let fly with his Ice Arrow. The Ice Arrow struck true and encased the hand in ice, the hand dropping to the ground and remaining motionless, now frozen just like the other hand.

Now that Bongo Bongo's hands were frozen, it was now time to find the eye and shoot it with a Light Arrow, making certain to end its threat and stop the flow of energy from the Shadow Temple to Hyrule Castle. Link proceeded to draw a Light Arrow from his Light Quiver and notched it to his bow. Pulling back on the string and activating the arrow, the entire chamber was illuminated by the Light. As if he were in his Wolf form or had an ability to see invisible enemies, the eye and body of Bongo Bongo became visible to the hero. Not stopping to question how that was possible since the beast was charging him, he let fly with the Light Arrow. Since the beast was only a couple of meters away from him when he let fly with his arrow, he could not have missed the beast if he had tried. The Light Arrow struck the beast squarely in the eye and exploded in a blast of light upon impact with Bongo Bongo's eye. The Light from the explosion then congealed into balls of light that were drawn back into the beast as if they were being drawn into a black hole. The balls struck Bongo Bongo and exploded again, engulfing the beast in heavenly Light.

The Light inflicted obscene damage to the beast and it gave a screech of pain and horror as it fell to the ground and writhed in agony, struggling to move so it could fight against the hero. Link had no intention of letting up, though, and when he saw that the Light Arrow was not quite enough to destroy the beast, he drew the Master Sword and rushed towards the beast. Once he arrived, he repeatedly slashed at the eye. With each slash, blood was drawn and Link could tell that the beast was about to die. After a few slashes, he drew back his blade and thrust it into the eye. The moment he did that, the beast went silent and was completely still. Its body then melted into shadowy particles and disintegrated until there was nothing left at all.

As soon as the beast was dead, a blue portal appeared in the center of the drum, indicating that the fight was over and that their mission in the Shadow Temple was accomplished. Before relaxing, though, Link looked over to Midna and asked, "Is it over? Is Bongo Bongo dead and has power stopped flowing from the Shadow Temple?"

Midna nodded, smiling. "Yeah, it's finished. We've won here."

That was all Link needed to hear. He then made his way over to the warp pillar, followed by Midna. He took one last look around and, seeing nothing of worth to take, he proceeded to step into the pillar, joined by Midna only a second later. Once both of them were in the portal a crystal formed around them and lifted them into the air, a pillar of energy forming around them. Then, after spinning around for a few seconds, the crystal shot into the air and vanished from the Shadow Temple.

The crystal deposited the duo on top of the central pillar inside the Chamber of Sages inside the Light Temple. The moment the crystal deposited them onto the pillar, Link turned towards the pillar with the Shadow symbol. A pillar of light formed on that pillar and rising from the symbol was none other than Impa, who gave a knowing smile towards the hero.

"I can't say I'm all that surprised that I turned out to be the Sage of Shadow," she began. "I am a Sheikah and my ancestor was the original founder of Kakariko Village. Before you go, though, know that your next target should be the Fire Temple. It does not have any items inside, but the Gorons have been fighting off an assault by the Hyrulean Military and they are close to liberating the temple, though your help will be useful in helping them limit the number of casualties."

Impa then smiled as the pillar formed around the duo once more and lifted them out of the Temple of Light. As they disappeared from the temple, they heard the words of Impa echo, "Stay strong and courageous, noble heroes. You are Hyrule's last hope."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26:

The pillar of light deposited Link and Midna back at the entrance to the Shadow Temple. When they touched down on the ground, Midna magically scanned her surroundings and then reported to Link, "The dark power that permeated this area is gone and I also think that the spirits in the graveyard are finally at rest."

Link smiled as he made his way over to the fence so he could jump down from the alcove. Midna rushed after him, worried about the fact that he was not taking the time to change his clothes. "Are you crazy?" she demanded. "The Shadow Temple may be purified, but the rest of the island is still under the control of Hyrule's military. They'd recognize you in an instant."

"We have to get to Death Mountain quickly," Link told her. "With the fall of the Shadow Temple, Link and Zelda will almost certainly reposition assets to protect the Fire Temple. Time is of the essence. Besides, I'm not sure that they haven't put two and two together yet already," he concluded. "I'm certain that someone saw us enter the graveyard and if they see us come out, they may note that and if a telepathic soldier or Knight manages to read that, then we'll be questioned anyway. While I don't like the prospect of fighting through the village, I think we have a better chance of reaching Death Mountain quickly if we don't bother with stealth than if we do and have it fail."

"Saving a minute or so won't do you any good if you get captured or killed before you make it to the Fire Temple," Midna countered. "Besides, we'll want a ship. After all, Hyrule is already launching an assault on Death Mountain. We'll need a ship or boat to run the blockade and reach the mountain."

"You're right," Link answered, not having thought of that. From what he had remembered of Death Mountain's location compared to Kakariko, he had suspected that he would be able to swim to it. However, if the waters were teeming with hostile life or undead, the trip would be more perilous. Seeing the wisdom in Midna's statements, he changed back into his casual outfit and put the Master Sword away. Once that was done, he jumped down from the alcove. Midna then transformed into her Human disguise and jumped down to join him.

They retraced their steps through the graveyard, sunlight shining down on it, a stark contrast to the thunderclouds, rain, and lightning that had been present before the cleansing of the Shadow Temple. Also, as she had felt from the entrance to the Shadow Temple, the spirits that had patrolled the graveyard and/or were restless inside their graves were finally at rest and had moved on. Once they had made their way through the graveyard, they returned to Kakariko's town square.

As they were walking about the town square doing their best to act natural, Midna asked Link, "So, what is your plan? Should we go back to our ship and try to use it to get to Death Mountain or should we just buy our own?"

Link stopped and considered the question for a few seconds before answering, "We should probably buy our own. We can use a small seaworthy boat to make the journey and we won't run the risk of being discovered since any investigator could possibly tie the appearance of our temporary ship with the liberation of the Shadow Temple. Besides, there's the fact of getting through the likely blockade around Death Mountain. A smaller ship or boat would be better suited for that and may even go unnoticed."

Midna agreed with Link's assessment and she nodded. With that, the duo scanned the town for any marinas that may have been looking to sell a ship. They quickly found one on the south side of Kakariko Island. It was a marina labeled, _Coro's Boat Emporium: We sell ships both new and used_. It was a large building with the model of a ship on it. There was no line at the door but it was obvious that the marina was open. Both Link and Midna grinned. That was exactly what they needed.

They rushed over to the marina and quickly entered. Inside the marina, there was all sorts of merchandise from canoes to paddles to fishing lines, boat engines, sails, and even models of ships. There was a counter along the wall on the right along with a middle aged Hylian male with brown hair and blue eyes.

Noticing Link and Midna enter the marina, he called out to them, "Hello, is there anything I can help you find?"

Link quickly went over to the man while Midna continued to stare at all of the boat and ship merchandise, seemingly in wonder, though she was only partly acting, wanting to not be seen as hovering too closely to Link. When he arrived he told the man, "My companion and I are looking for a used boat or ship, not very large but not a dinghy, either."

The proprietor smiled. "Well, we've got a good selection of used motorboats and ships. For the used ships, we've got a small motorboat that should suffice. What's your price range?"

"We want one that's pretty cheap," Link answered.

"Well, we've got an old motorboat from before the flood. It's seen some action but it still runs. It is seaworthy but I wouldn't try to take it from one end of the Great Sea to the other."

"Where is it?"

The man then took Link through a door to the back section of the marina and to a small pond that was almost certainly part of a river or harbor. In the water was a small motorboat that had no weaponry. "Here it is," the proprietor said. "It has a cabin for sleeping and all the normal safety features as well."

"How much is it?"

"Eighty Rupees," came the answer.

"I'll take it."

The proprietor grinned as Link handed over the eighty Rupees for the motorboat. Once the sale was made, the proprietor told him, "I'll fuel the boat free of charge. It should only take a few minutes."

"Thanks."

As the proprietor went to fuel the motorboat, Link returned to Midna out in the main store. She was looking over some of the merchandise, trying to ascertain whether or not some of it would be useful for their ship back on the uninhabited island. When she saw Link, she went over to him and asked, "So, did you get a ship?"

"More like a motorboat," Link answered casually. "We're only taking it a little ways so I went for the cheapest boat they had that still worked."

Midna inclined her head, agreeing with Link's point on the boat. They were not really going to need to use it for much. She did not really care about the price, but she still asked, "How much did it cost?"

"Eighty Rupees," the half-Hylian answered.

"Well, let's hope it's worth it," was her only response.

"If it works, it will be," Link said. He then guided her to the back room where the boat was being fueled.

As they entered the back room, Link saw the proprietor leave the boat and come up to him. "I've got her all fueled and ready to go," he told the hero. "Despite being old and having seen a lot of action, the boat's still a good boat. It'll see you to where you need to go as long as you don't need to go from one end of the Great Sea to the other. If you want to visit any of the surrounding islands, you should be good to do so, even if your destination is a place like Death Mountain. Just don't get too close to the mountain. Despite being mostly underwater, the volcano is still active and there are still the Gorons' defenses to worry about."

"We'll be careful," Link assured the proprietor, nodding.

The proprietor then handed the hero a manual. "This is the instruction manual for the boat," he told the hero. "The boat's operation should be fairly simple to a seasoned seaman but don't hesitate to go through it if you are stumped by anything." After a beat, the proprietor clasped his hands and asked, "Well, is there anything else I can do for you? Would you be interested in getting a warranty?"

"We should be fine, thank you," the hero responded courteously.

The proprietor then handed Link the keys to the boat and stepped aside to let Link and Midna pass. The two passed him, Midna thanking him as well for the boat. She then looked over at the motorboat and could see the signs of wear on it. It had definitely seen its share of action. Still, she did not care how it looked as long as it operated properly.

The hero and the former Twilight Queen boarded the boat and did not waste any time getting underway on their trek to Death Mountain. Link went over to the control seat and quickly looked over the control layout, spotting the throttle controls and the steering wheel. He took a quick look through the manual to make sure that he did not miss anything. Once he was ready, he put the key in the ignition and started the boat.

As the boat started, there was a vibration as the engine began to start, the rotors turning in the water, sending a spray of water behind the boat. The engine at first sounded like it was sputtering as it started, but after a few seconds, the sound became steadier and the vibration vanished and it was much smoother. After the boat had started, Midna took a seat at a station on the opposite side of the boat as Link and the hero proceeded to guide the boat out of the harbor.

As they left the harbor, they passed a series of other motorboats that were out on either pleasure cruises or test cruises. He looked over at the docks and noticed several guards standing watch on the docks, looking at each of the boats as they passed. He did not recognize any of the guards, which gave him a slight feeling of comfort as he was not worried about being recognized from having come onto the island from a harbor not too far away, but he did not know if he would have been seen as a person of interest given that he still was not all that different than he was when he wore his green tunic and if the Dark Sage of Shadow had seen him in his civilian outfit, he may have alerted the rest of the soldiers before he had fought the hero. The Dark Sage of Shadow seemed to be smarter more forward thinking than the other Dark Sages that he had encountered.

It did not take too long for them to exit the harbor and make it out into the open water. As they left the harbor, they did not see anyone give them any undue attention. It appeared as if they had gotten away clean. As they departed, they looked out towards the open sea to see if they could spot any ships of the Hyrulean Navy. Sure enough, they managed to spot several ships, but they were big, slow sailing vessels, no match for the motorboat in speed. Knowing that in order to make it out into the open water safely, he would have to make his way past the ships, he did just that. He took his boat and set it to the maximum safe throttle level that he could with the seawater. His boat bobbed up and down on the sea waves but the seas were not all that rough, relatively speaking. Making his way past the ships, they took no offensive actions against his boat, nor did they deploy any boats of their own in an attempt to intercept his own. Once he was safely away from the island, and its defensive fleet, he turned his ship towards the west and proceeded to make his way to Death Mountain.

It took less than a half hour for his ship to reach sight of Death Mountain. As he approached, he could see a fleet of Hyrulean ships shelling the mountain, which looked to be a mountain peak jutting out of the water's surface, nothing like the imposing volcano that had towered over Kakariko Village during his last adventure. He was sure that it was due to the floodwaters. As he focused his attention on the Hyrulean ships, he noticed that there were several explosions that seemed to erupt from the hulls of the ships, places that were not marked by cannons. Pieces of wood and sometimes metal also fell into the water. More than a couple of ships also listed downwards until they were taken under the waves. He then put on his Hawkeye to get a better view of the situation. When he did he saw that Death Mountain was pockmarked with numerous gun ports. Each port had a cannon that must have launched Bomb Flowers or other munitions at the fleet. This could be devastating to the Hyrulean fleet because Bomb Flower fruits regenerated pretty quickly, meaning that any cannon that used them for ammunition could theoretically have unlimited ammunition to hurl at any oncoming enemy force. He also managed to spot several small motorboats and rowboats heading to the mountain, but he had a feeling that such boats were going to find it difficult to find anyplace safe for landing troops.

Scanning the mountainside, he managed to spot several Goron warriors, seemingly armed with some sort of cannon that fired Bomb Flower bombs at any approaching Hyrulean soldier. The soldiers that managed to land on the island were instantly targeted and destroyed. It was clear to Link that at this rate, the attacking fleet would be overwhelmed and destroyed. He could only grin at the sight, as did Midna. He knew exactly what she was thinking, and he was thinking it, too. The path to the Dark Fire Sage may have been much easier than originally anticipated.

Continuing to scan the mountainside for any entry to the mountain's interior, he managed to spot a trail that seemed to lead to the top of the volcano, a trail that he was intimately familiar with from his quest to stop Ghirahim and rescue Zelda. There were Gorons stationed there, too. These Gorons seemed to wear armor of some sort, though their stone skin already made them tough, much tougher than Hylians, Zoras, or even Humans in terms of defense. They were also physically strong so no one in their right mind wanted to engage a Goron in close combat. Seeing the opportunity right in front of his eyes, he decided to gun the throttle and try to reach a place on the mountain where he could hike up the trail and hopefully reach the Fire Temple.

His boat quickly approached the island, the remnants of Hyrule's assault fleet doing nothing to stop him, having more important things to worry about at the moment. Pulling up to the mountain island, he circled the island to search for a ledge where he could park his boat and also get onto the island with minimal difficulty. Finding one, he proceeded to pull his ship up to the ledge. Once he did so, he retreated into the front cabin, calling Midna over to him as well, just on the off chance that they were being watched.

Inside the cabin, Link put on his Hero's Clothes once more, Midna looking at him questioningly.

"Are you sure that's wise?" she asked. "You may be confused for the other Link, even with the Master Sword."

"It's best I go like this," Link answered. "I'll need the armor that the chainmail shirt gives me, plus my Magic Armor fits over my Hero's Clothes better than my other uniforms."

"Do you think you'll need it?"

"If I have to go inside of Death Mountain, itself, probably," Link answered. "When I fought Ghirahim inside the mountain, I could feel the heat getting to me, and there is also the poisonous atmosphere inside to worry about, too."

"Are you sure the Magic Armor will protect you from that?"

Midna's question caused Link to stop for a moment and ponder what she had asked. Would the armor protect him from environmental dangers? That had never been tested before. Eventually, he answered, "I don't know. But I've got five bottles of healing liquids and fairies, so it will be enough if the Magic Armor does not protect me from the environmental hazards inside of Death Mountain."

Link's answer gave Midna little comfort but she knew that they had no choice. They needed to get into the Fire Temple to destroy the Fire Barrier and take out the Dark Sage of Fire. After Link had finished putting on his Hero's Clothes, she transformed back into her normal form and faded back into his shadow. Once he was ready, he emerged onto the deck of the motorboat and proceeded to jump into the water, swimming a few feet until he came on shore on a dirt trail that led up the mountain.

Link made his way up the mountain as quickly as possible, constantly looking up at the volcano's peak. While the volcano did not look to be in danger of erupting any time soon, he did not want to take any chances. As he walked along the trails, he came across several Gorons who were looking out over the sea. Link proceeded to do so as well and when he did, he saw that the Hyrulean fleet appeared to be in retreat.

As he turned to continue up the mountain, the Goron closest to him saw him and gave a cry, shouting, "Hold up. Who are you?"

Seeing no use in lying, Link answered, "My name is Link." He could feel Midna's facepalm.

The Goron scowled at him for a second before grinning. "Well well," the Goron began in a sinister tone. "It looks like the villain has finally shown his face again." The Goron then cracked his knuckles as two of his comrades came over to see what had taken him off of his post.

"I'm not that Link," the hero declared.

"Prove it," the Goron said skeptically, crossing his arms and smiling.

Link then drew the Master Sword and showed it to them.

"That's a nice sword," the Goron said, eying the blade. "So what?" he finished. He obviously did not recognize the blade.

"This is the Master Sword," Link answered. "It is the Blade of Evil's Bane. No one who is evil can touch it, much less wield it."

"A lot of good that did the Four Sword," the Goron answered condescendingly. "We'll need more proof." He then turned to his comrades and told them, "Bring the magic scanner. The Link we all know and loathe has a great deal of magic. If this kid has none, then I'll believe him."

The other Gorons nodded and one of them produced a rectangular box with two straight prongs on it. "This device is a gift we took from the Knights of Hyrule that were searching for Big Brother Darunia. It can identify magical power inside of someone. All Hylians have some magic in them, but those associated with the Royal Family have a lot more. If you are at baseline normal, then I'll believe that you're not _the_ Link. If you're above, well, it's better to be safe than sorry."

That was when Midna emerged from Link's shadow and stood before the Goron's, shocking them, one of them jumping back a few feet. Midna merely smiled as she emerged. "I wouldn't want you to get a false positive on Link, here," she said with a grin.

"Who are you?" the first Goron demanded.

"I'm Midna," came the former Twilight Queen's answer. "And I fought the evil Link and Zelda ten years ago. Believe me, this Link is not the one you hate. He is the enemy of the current Royal Family."

"We'll find out soon enough," the first Goron said as he let his companion scan Link. After a few seconds, the scan was complete and the device did not make a sound, causing the Goron scanning Link to look at the device skeptically. "What is it?" the first Goron asked.

"He's not registering as having any magic at all," the second Goron answered.

The first Goron's eyes flashed with shock. "What? Scan him again."

"I scanned him three times," the second Goron replied. "He's a null."

"That's impossible," the first Goron stated in disbelief. "Only Humans are nulls."

"I'm half-Human," Link volunteered.

The two Gorons glanced at each other. "That could explain it," the second Goron offered.

The first Goron grunted. "Well, anyway, it _does_ go to show that this Link is not the lover of Zelda." He then stepped aside and told Link and Midna, "Very well. You two can pass. Darunia is already inside the Fire Temple with some warriors clearing it out. If you want to have any enemies to destroy, you'd better hurry. They've been in there for the better part of an hour."

Link nodded and he and Midna hurried along the path, Midna fading back into his shadow as he continued up the mountain. The trek up the mountain was not nearly as hazardous as the previous trek had been. Death Mountain appeared to be behaving itself today, for there were no eruptions as Link made his way across what he had once termed as no-man's-land as he went up to the final wall that led to the entrance to Death Mountain Crater.

After reaching the top, he saw the entrance to the Death Mountain Crater within sight. As he stepped near it, he could feel the intense heat coming from inside the mountain. This was the moment where his Magic Armor would be put to the test. Taking it out of his sack, he put it on, the hero now clad in ornate red and gold armor. Once he put on the armor, he stepped into the entrance to Death Mountain and trekked the long tunnel until he was inside.

Once he was inside Death Mountain, he began to feel the heat coming upon him, albeit at a lower intensity. As if scanning to see what the plan was, Midna's voice echoed through his mind and said, "The Magic Armor seems to be keeping some of the heat at bay, but the air is still toxic if you breathe it for too long. I'd get to the temple as quickly as possible."

She did not have to tell Link twice as he rushed over to a chasm. Link did not stop to admire the large cavern inside of Death Mountain. There were large stones jutting out of the lava below. He thought that he could see rope bridges across the lava, too. As he looked down from over the ledge, he saw that there were a number of handholds on the ledge, allowing him to climb down the wall. In addition, he saw an alcove down the wall and not too high above the lava. Lowering himself over the edge, he gripped the handholds and climbed down the wall towards the alcove. As he climbed, he could feel the heat increasing and his energy draining from him even faster as he neared the lava. The last thing he wanted was to have to use his potions to heal him at this time, but things were not looking all that great for him. Still, he would only use his potions if it became absolutely vital that he do so.

Eventually, he reached the alcove and ducked inside. When he did so, he took a moment to catch his breath before studying the scene in front of him. Looking out across the lava, he managed to spot a stone walkway at the other end of the volcano that seemed to lead further underground. Even better was the fact that the walkway was within jumping distance from a platform in the lava. That meant that if he could generate a series of safe platforms to hop over the lava from, he could cross over to what he was certain was the Fire Temple. And he had the perfect tools for the job.

Drawing his Ice Arrow quiver out from his sack, he strapped it to his back and quickly notched the arrow to his bowstring and drew it back. This not only activated the arrow, but also allowed a fresh wave of cool energy emanating from the arrow to wash over Link and counteract some of the volcano's heat. It was not much, but combined with the Magic Armor, it was enough to make things bearable.

Once he was ready, he fired the Ice Arrow into the lava. The moment the arrow hit the lava, a sheet of ice formed over the lava, spreading out from the Ice Arrow. The ice sheet spread out about two meters in each direction, creating a stable platform over the lava. Link knew, though, that the intense heat from the lava would probably melt it pretty quickly so he would have to hurry.

He then jumped down onto the platform, the platform sinking enough so that lava managed to wash over the edges a bit but was not in danger of coming anywhere close to the center. Still, gave the hero an indication of how quickly he had to create a new platform before the current one failed, for he could already feel it sinking into the lava. He then readied another Ice Arrow and fired it into the lava a few meters in front of him. Once the platform had formed, he jumped over to it, just in time to escape the first one as it melted into the lava.

Link followed the same routine as he crossed over to the entrance to the Fire Temple. He carefully made certain to land on the ice platform that had formed over the lava and quickly made another platform and jumped over to it before the previous one had melted. He continued to follow the same plan until he had crossed the lava.

Eventually, he made it over to the stone platform that had a walkway at the end of it leading to the entrance to the Fire Temple. In the center of the platform, he saw a Triforce symbol on the ground reminiscent of the one he had seen in the Lost Woods near the Forest Temple, along with two stones that were almost certainly Gorons huddled up and feigning sleep in order to catch potential intruders off guard. He ignored the Gorons as he made his way towards the walkway. As made his way past them, they stood up to examine him, but they must have found something about him that was different, or had been alerted by the Gorons outside to expect him, for they made no hostile moves towards him.

Link wasted no time crossing the stone bridge and approaching the entrance to the Fire Temple, wanting to get out of the heat as quickly as possible. Once he crossed the bridge, he saw a small set of stairs that led downward and through an archway. Not stopping to admire any of the writings on the wall or the scenery, he promptly entered the temple, eager to clear the temple as quickly as possible.

Inside the temple's main chamber, he saw a Goron standing before him flanked by two heavily armored Goron warriors. Behind the Gorons were two stairs that each led to doors on the opposite sides of the room. There were also doors on the first floor, though there were Gorons stationed by those doors, too. The Goron in the center of the room, who was larger than the other Gorons, had gray spiky hair and a spiky beard of the same color. He also had a jovial expression on his face. The first thing that Link noticed, though, was that this room was at normal temperature, meaning that he did not need the Magic Armor to ward off any heat. He eagerly took off the armor, glad to not be shedding any more Rupees.

Once he was back in his normal Hero's Clothes, he focused on the Goron in the center. The Goron had waited for him to get out of the armor before coming over to him, grinning. "I take it you're Link, the Hero of Twilight Link, if I hear correctly," he added jovially.

Link nodded, drawing the Master Sword so he could confirm his identity. The Goron looked at the sword and nodded approvingly. "That's surely the Blade of Evil's Bane," he stated plainly. He then looked at Link a little more gravely. "Well, let's get down to business." He gave a beat before stepping back and continuing, "My name is Darunia. I'm the boss of the Gorons and known as Big Brother of the Gorons. So far, we've managed to clear the temple save for the inner sanctum that we've come to call the Boss Chamber. The boss, the Dark Sage of Fire, has already barricaded himself inside the room, but that's not the greatest danger. The Dark Sage of Fire is actually not all that strong. Anyone with ice or water powers or resistance to fire could trounce him. The problem is that he revived an ancient evil dragon called Volvagia. Volvagia is a massive fire-breathing dragon that requires an ancient hammer called the Megaton Hammer in order to defeat. That hammer must be acquired if we are to defeat the dragon."

"You mean this hammer?" Link asked as he drew out the Megaton Hammer from his sack.

Darunia's eyes went wide with surprise. "That's it," he said distantly. "We thought that it had been stolen by the Dark Sage of Fire. How did you manage to get it?"

"It was given to me by Darbus a long time ago," Link answered.

"Darbus, huh? I see," Darunia stated jovially. "Darbus is my ancestor. You must have done something great to earn that hammer." He then gave another pause before continuing. "Well, back to business, since you have the Megaton Hammer, you should be able to treat Volvagia like a Whack-a-Mole game, so, if you want, we'll let you deal with him and that Dark Sage."

Link had no objections and nodded. Darunia then handed him a gold key that Link recognized as a Boss Key. As he went up the steps to go through the door on the left side of the room, he heard Darunia call after him, "I notice that you don't have a Goron Tunic. The Boss Chamber is hot, so you'll want to finish off Volvagia as quickly as possible."

Link acknowledged the Goron leader with a nod and then proceeded to go through the door to make his way to the Boss Chamber. When he entered the next room, he could feel the heat inside. Knowing that he would need to find some way to counteract the heat, he decided that it was time to put on the Magic Armor once more in the hope of at least blunting the heat's effects on him. After putting on the armor, he began to feel some slight relief but he knew that he had only slowed the effects of the heat, though there was no toxic air in here, which gave him hope that he could last longer than he would have in Death Mountain Crater.

After putting on his Magic Armor, he scanned the room and saw the door to the Boss Chamber across the hot lava pool. There were several stones jutting out of the lava pool, providing a safe network of steppingstones for him to use to cross the pool. He then proceeded to cross the pool, jumping across the stones. Eventually, he reached the other side and stood before the Boss Chamber.

When he arrived, he immediately took out the Boss Key and inserted it into the lock and then turned the key. The chains over the lock broke and the lock promptly fell off the door. As soon as the chains had retracted, Link pushed open the door, the massive door rising, granting him access to the Boss Chamber. Without any hesitation, Link drew the Megaton Hammer and proceeded to enter the chamber.

The floor inside the Boss Chamber was pockmarked with holes that were full of lava. Standing in the middle of the chamber was the one Link surmised was the Dark Sage of Fire. The Sage was covered in scarlet armor from head to toe. The Dark Sage faced the hero, his posture indicating that he was certain of his ability to defeat the hero.

"Well, well, well, so the hero comes to face me at last," the Dark Sage of Fire boomed. "Well, don't get too comfortable. Your armor won't protect you forever. And I've also got some help of my own."

As the Dark Sage finished, a dragon's head emerged from one of the holes in the floor. The head was on top of what looked to be a serpentine body with the top half of the head either wearing a skull or being the skull. This had to be Volvagia. After the dragon had poked its head up from the hole, it breathed fire at Link, forcing the hero to raise his Mirror Shield to intercept the blast of fire and reflect it back at the dragon. The blast of fire washed over Volvagia but the dragon did not seem to be affected by the flame. It them rocketed from the hole and into the air, revealing its long, serpentine body and two relatively short arms.

As Volvagia was flying through the air, the Dark Sage of Fire generated a flaming sword and rushed towards Link. The hero, seeing that he had an opportunity to take down the Dark Sage with one blow, quickly drew an Ice Arrow and notched it to his bow, pulling back on the string and allowing the frigid air to cool him.

"You think that arrow will be enough to stop me?" the Dark Sage mocked.

Link suppressed a grin. The Dark Fire Sage was just as arrogant as the other Dark Sages he had encountered, and the Dark Sage of Fire would pay for that arrogance with his life. After the Dark Sage had closed to within a few meters of the hero, the hero let fly with the arrow. The arrow struck the Dark Sage squarely in the chest and an ice block formed over the Sage. Link then rushed over to the Dark Sage of Fire and, pulling out his Megaton Hammer, shattered the Dark Sage with a single swing, the ice pieces flying all over the floor. With the Dark Sage of Fire having been defeated, all that was left was to finish off Volvagia.

The dragon had not been idle while Link had killed the Dark Sage of Fire, though. He had risen to the ceiling and started to smash it with his fists, sending rocks raining down upon the hero. Link had to constantly watch his step, stepping out of shadows as rocks fell to the floor and shattered. Volvagia continued to attack in this manner and did not look like he was going to come down so the hero could fight him with the hammer. Still, Link was not out of options.

Drawing his bow once more, the hero readied a normal arrow this time, figuring that an Ice Arrow would not be sufficient to take down the beast with one hit along with the fact that he had already used up a noticeable number of Ice Arrows and he did not want to have to use up any more before resupplying them. Focusing on the dragon, he pulled back on the string and once he head drawn a bead on the dragon, he let fly with the arrow. The arrow struck the dragon in the throat and it embedded itself there, going through several inches and hurting the dragon, but not inflicting any significant injury. Link then lined up another shot and fired again, this time, hitting the dragon in the head. Again, the wound was not fatal or even that serious, but it was annoying.

Annoyed by the arrows, Volvagia then proceeded to dive back down to the lava holes, eager to escape Link's barrage of arrows. Diving into one of the holes, he was safe from Link's arrow onslaught, but he was now more vulnerable to Link's hammer and sword since he was now within reach of both. As the dragon hid, Link drew out his hammer and began to pant heavily as the hammer weighed far more in his hands than it had before. He gritted his teeth. The heat was getting to him. He needed to finish this fight fast so the could would not die from excessive heat.

Thankfully, Volvagia emerged from a hole right next to the hero, drawing back his claws so he could rake them across Link's armor. Seeing the attack coming, Link ducked the swipe, the claws sailing over his head, and retaliated with a smash from his hammer. The hammer landed on Volvagia's skull, stunning the dragon, the dragon falling to the floor. Link then ran over to Volvagia's head and repeatedly smashed it with his hammer. Each smash served to not only damage the dragon, but also stun him, allowing Link to strike again. Six hammer smashes were enough to fell the dragon. Upon the sixth smash, Volvagia's head reared back as if he were preparing to attack. However, instead of attacking or rising into the air, his head promptly burst into flames. The flames first consumed the head and then traveled down the dragon's body, incinerating it, leaving nothing but a charred skeleton. The bones then fell to the ground and shattered upon impact, leaving nothing but a warp portal and a large red Heart Container. Link was not finished yet, though.

Looking up at the ceiling, Link managed to spot the Fire Barrier jutting from the center of the ceiling, scarlet energy radiating up from the barrier through the ceiling. Drawing out a Light Arrow, Link notched the arrow to his bowstring. Then, pulling back on the string, he let fly with the Light Arrow, just as he had done so many times before. The arrow struck the barrier and pierced it, its light crystal exploding as soon as it burrowed into the barrier. The barrier then promptly exploded into a series of magical sparks and the dark energy ceased to flow from the Fire Temple.

With the Fire Barrier destroyed, Link rushed over to the Heart Container and quickly collected it. Upon touching it, he felt the energy from the Heart Container course throughout his body, instantly revitalizing him. Not wasting a single extra moment inside the Fire Temple, he quickly dashed right into the warp portal. A crystal of energy surrounded him and lifted him into the air. Then, after spinning around for a few seconds, the crystal vanished as it warped Link to the Chamber of Sages.

The warp portal immediately deposited Link on the central pillar inside the Chamber of Sages. He took this time to take off his Magic Armor so he would not expend any more Rupees. Once he was back in his Hero's Clothes, he turned to face the Fire Pillar, seeing a warp portal forming on its floor and seeing a figure rise from it. He instantly recognized the figure as being Darunia, the leader of the Gorons. Darunia looked over at Link and grinned.

"Well, who would have though that I would have become the Sage of Fire?" he began, smiling. His face then became a little more serious. "Well, I can't say I'm all that surprised considering what has happened. Sorry about taking care of everything inside the Fire Temple, I just know you were itching to bust some heads," he added jokingly, prompting Link to smile. "Well, it looks as if you've only got one more barrier to go," he continued. "That will be the Spirit Barrier in the Spirit Temple in the middle of what was once the Gerudo Desert. Be careful in there, though. The whole area is patrolled by Gerudos and they don't like intruders. Even Hyrulean warships hesitate to go there unless they've either got numbers or it's a large battleship like a flagship of the fleet."

Link nodded. He could feel the end of the journey coming, too. It would not be too long now. All that remained was to go to the Spirit Temple and destroy the Spirit Barrier. It sounded simple enough. As the pillar formed a crystal around him to whisk him back to Hyrule once more, he heard Darunia's voice echo as he vanished, saying, "Always remember the value of your friends. They will guide you through the tough times." And with that, Link vanished from the Chamber of Sages once more.

The pillar of light deposited him back on his ship, his original ship that was anchored off of the island. As soon as he touched down on the main deck of his ship, he immediately went to search the ship to make sure that there were no stowaways or thieves that were looking for items or munitions to sell. Fortunately, there were no signs of intrusion or theft. With that, he returned to the ship's bridge. When he returned to the bridge, Midna emerged from his shadow and stood a few feet away from him as he went to the control station and inserted the key into the ignition. He then started up the ship, the startup going smoothly. He then glanced at the map at his station and plotted the quickest route back to the Arbiter's Grounds. Then, once he was ready, he gunned the throttle and began his trek to the Spirit Barrier to clear the final barrier and lower the defenses over Hyrule Castle.

Meanwhile, back inside Hyrule Castle, the destruction of the Shadow and Fire Barriers had not gone undetected by the evil Link and Zelda. The moment they felt the energy from the barriers vanish, Zelda immediately closed her eyes and went to get a reading of the state of Hyrule's forces, given the fact that they had been launching an assault on Death Mountain and that there was a fleet that had defended Kakariko Island. She sensed the destruction of the fleet attacking Death Mountain but the fleet protecting Kakariko Island was still relatively intact, though there were several raids being launched against it by pirate and rebel forces. She grimaced at the sensation, something that Link was quick to notice.

"Is something wrong my love?" he asked, stroking her cheek.

Zelda nodded. "Yeah, something's wrong," she answered harshly, causing Link to recoil a bit. She then turned to him and, seeing his fear, calmed down and added, "Sorry. It's just been a bad few days, with the death of Tetra and all. Well, in answer to your question, yes, something is most definitely wrong. We've lost the Shadow and Fire Barriers. All we have left is the Spirit Barrier and that's the location of the other Zelda. I don't doubt for a second that their ship will make it through the pirate forces. If nothing else, the Gerudo leader, Nabooru, will help guide them. But more importantly than that is what happens once they get to the Arbiter's Grounds? We don't have many guards there and it was mostly flooded. It won't take that Link and the Dark Woman long to get to the temple's inner sanctum and face down the Spirit Sage."

"Yeah, but the Spirit Sage is the strongest of our Sages," the evil Link answered in a comforting fashion, "next to you, of course," he added.

Zelda smiled, though there was a dark edge to it. "That's true," she admitted. "Still, I think we should make preparations for a battle. I don't think that Link and the Dark Woman will be stopped by the Spirit Sage. And there's the problem with the Younger Zelda that we have to worry about."

Link nodded in agreement. "I'll get right on it." He then proceeded to leave her presence and order the forces under his command to beef up the security around the Spirit Temple and increase the defenses around the Younger Zelda.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27:

Link guided the ship while Midna stood out on the ship's main deck keeping watch, extending her magical sight to identify any potentially hostile ships or boats before they became a threat. The last thing they wanted was to be caught off guard by any Hyrulean vessels or pirate ships that decided that it would be a good day to shop for a new ship or weaponry. So far, two hours into their trek, they had come across no vessels at all, which surprised both of them a bit. They had expected the sea-lanes to be heavily patrolled by the navy with the losses of the other four barriers. While there was an offensive still going on in Ordona Province and a small fleet had been lost at Death Mountain, the losses of the other barriers could actually have freed up ships to deal with Ordona while allowing more ships to go out on patrol to protect the Spirit Barrier. However, if the Spirit Barrier was in the Arbiter's Grounds, then there was a very real chance that there may not have been many ships there to protect the temple and the barrier inside, at least before the loss of the other barriers.

After another hour, Midna looked out over the sea and spied a small ship approaching their ship. She could not identify any markings on it so she could not tell its allegiance, but it was approaching relatively quickly and she felt that Link needed to know. She quickly went into the command cabin and alerted Link to the situation.

"Link, there's a ship headed our way," she alerted him. "I could not determine any markings on it, though, given how far out it is."

"Take the controls," he told her, rising from his station. "I'll use my Hawkeye to see if I can identify the ship."

Midna sat down in his seat and the hero went out the back and up the steps so he could get a better view of the horizon. Once he was on the bridge's upper deck, he put on his Hawkeye and scanned the horizon. Sure enough, he spotted the ship that Midna had told him about straight ahead. It seemed to be approaching fast. Judging by its size it looked to be a frigate but he did not see a flag that indicated any allegiance to Hyrule.

He continued to observe the ship for the next few minutes as it continued to approach. Still, there were no identifying markings on the ship and he saw only a few hands on the main deck. He hoped that Midna did not jump the gun and deploy any of the weapons on the chance that it was not an enemy vessel, continuing to study it since he knew that it would be within range of him being able to identify it and give Midna further instructions.

After a few more minutes, he saw a figure come out from below deck and emerge to take the wheel. After a few seconds, he recognized the figure as being Nabooru. The ship was friendly. As if confirming the fact that the ship was a friendly, Nabooru put a telescope to her eye for a second, as if to confirm that she was looking at Link and, after lowering it, she raised her hand and waved. He waved back and returned to the main cabin telling Midna, "It's Nabooru."

Midna then rose so she could meet with the Gerudo rebel when their ships got close. After a few minutes, the two ships were close enough for vocal communications to get through. When the ships were next to each other, Link set the throttle to idle and went out onto the main deck to meet with the Gerudo woman.

When he got outside, Nabooru called over to him, waving, and said, "Ahoy, Link."

Link waved back, figuring that 'ahoy' was some sort of greeting. "Is everything okay?" the hero called over to her.

Nabooru nodded. "Everything's fine. The rebellion has gotten bigger and has done more damage to the forces of Hyrule in recent days. Our sources inside the Hyrulean forces indicate that the Hyrulean military is on its heels at the moment."

"That's good to hear," Midna said.

"Yeah," Nabooru agreed. "This will make all of our jobs a whole lot easier. Hyrule's now focused on salvaging the situation, which means that they're sending everything they can at Ordona Province, ignoring all of the other enemy forces as well as protecting their own borders. The way to the Gerudo Fortress and the Spirit Temple is clear. In addition, Impa's making a push to take over Kakariko Island, too. Rebel forces are already working to drive out the Hyruleans there, and with the Shadow Temple under Impa's control, they're making good headway. This is allowing the Zoras to send aid to Ordona Province along with the rebel forces. We'll be able to make a stand there."

"Good," Link said, concerned about Ordona's wellbeing. "How is Ordona doing right now?"

"They're hanging in there," the Gerudo woman answered. "They've warded off another assault. The sinking of the _H.R.S. Hylia_ when you made your escape really hurt the morale of the naval assault forces. None of the other ships has the firing range of the cannons and missiles that Ordona uses so as long as Ordona Province doesn't run out of missiles, they can keep Hyrule at bay for a long time. Unlike Hyrule, they're not hurting for resources. They can hold out for as long as needed, while Hyrule is using up both manpower and resources trying to take over the province." Nabooru's expression then became more focused and both Link and Midna studied her intently, wondering if something had happened. They soon got their answer. "You probably suspect that I did not just come here to give you a report on how things are going so far." She then paused a beat.

Both Link and Midna nodded.

"Well, you're right. As it turns out, sources inside of Hyrule's nobility indicate that there is someone of great importance being contained inside of Gerudo Fortress."

"But aren't the Gerudos allies of the rebels?" Midna asked.

Nabooru paused for a moment before answering, "Some are, and some aren't. For a long time, the Gerudos were thieves and then nomads. Now, we're a combination of nomads and pirates. The nomadic Gerudos are serving the Hyrulean rebels and other forces opposed to the tyranny of Hyrule. However, the Gerudo Pirates have no such allegiance. They are allied with no one and only seek to raid islands and ships for treasure. Well, they managed to find some during a raid on Kakariko Island."

"What was there?" Link asked.

"Some Fire Arrows," the Gerudo woman answered. "They're now using the arrows against enemy ships. Be careful as you cross the former Desert Province. That's their territory, and is also home to their fortress, a floating island that is protected by a number of ships. Unfortunately, in order to get to the Arbiter's Grounds by the shortest route, you're likely going to come pretty close to the base."

"We'll be ready," Link assured her.

"One more thing," Nabooru added. "I'm familiar with the Dark Sage of Spirit. She is a powerful sorceress, much like the Dark Sage of Shadow. You'll need all of your power if you're going to defeat her."

"What is she capable of?" Midna asked.

"She can use a large variety of elemental magical spells, each of which can inflict obscene damage onto her opponents. Be especially careful about her Ice spells, for her Ice spells will spread and freeze anyone that the spell touches. She has a great deal of power so you'll have to be careful when you face her."

"We will be," Link assured the rebel warrior.

"Well, good luck," Nabooru wished. "I won't be keeping you any longer," Nabooru said as she went back to man the wheel of her own ship. "I'm headed to Ordona Province to help a rebel force help bolster the province's defenses. The rivers that allow entry to the island are still being used by smaller boats to land troops." Before leaving, though, she called back to Link and Midna, adding, "You be careful out here. It's the penultimate stage of your fight against Link and Zelda. They will do their best to take you down right here and right now. They don't want you being backed up by the Sages when you fight them."

Link and Midna nodded as Nabooru's ship sailed past them and proceeded to head north, making its way towards Ordona Province. Once Nabooru's ship had departed, Link made his way back to the bridge and the command station of the ship. There, he set the throttle to full and pointed the ship towards the location of the Arbiter's Grounds. Once he was ready, the ship lurched forward as it accelerated to full throttle towards the Arbiter's Grounds.

The trek to the Arbiter's Grounds only took another few hours. As they were traveling, they came across a Hyrulean cruiser that must have recognized their ship, for it had opened fire on the ship. Midna, however, managed to erect a shield to protect the ship and the cannonball merely bounced off of the shield. The missile Link fired back at the ship, however, did far more damage, detonating against the hull right on the waterline, blowing a hole in the ship's metallic hull. The ship listed forward and quickly sunk while Link's vessel merely powered forward.

After a while, the vessel came within Hawkeye range of a large, seemingly floating island. Link figured that this was the Gerudo Fortress that Nabooru had warned him about. When the Gerudo Fortress was within Hawkeye sight of Link's vessel, he gazed through the Hawkeye and spotted pirate vessels patrolling the seas in front of the base. From what he could tell, they looked to consist of small motorboats crewed by two or three Gerudo thieves that were armed with halberds and rifles. The boats were armed with a single cannon but it was unclear if it was a normal cannon that merely shot cannonballs and other shot, or could be a missile launcher like the main cannon on Link's own ship. As soon as the vessels were sighted, Midna returned to the bridge and asked Link, "So, what's your plan?"

"We steer clear of them," Link answered. "We may be able to beat them, but I don't want to draw any undue attention our way."

Midna nodded in agreement and she merely watched as Link guided his vessel on its journey. As they were traveling, they were getting closer to the fortress, though making sure to stay far enough away so that the Gerudos would not have a good reason to pursue his ship and potentially identify him, thus possibly giving the Dark Sage of Spirit a heads up on the situation.

With that, they proceeded to guide the ship past Gerudo Fortress. As they made their way past the fortress, they were able to get a better view of its structure. It looked to be built on several floats, much like Hyrule Castle Island had been. There were several tall buildings that seemed to form a perimeter around the base. There were several archways that indicated that there were some ports of entry, though they looked to be heavily guarded, for there were several cannon emplacements near the archways. As for the rest of the base, there was large number of cannons, both normal as well as some resembling those used by Ordona Province. The fortress looked like it could hold off a small fleet, which was probably the reason why Hyrule never made any moves against the Gerudo pirates. The combination of the small, fast yet possibly heavily armed motorboats and the incredibly strong fortress defenses made taking the fortress a chore for anyone who had ill intentions for the Gerudos. Looking at the defenses, Link knew it would have been foolish for him to try to infiltrate the base and he was fortunate for the fact that none of his essential equipment had been stolen before he had gotten a hold of it.

As they began to pull away from the fortress, though, several motorboats began to approach their vessel. As they saw the boats approach, Midna told Link, "Let me talk to them if necessary."

Link nodded, knowing that they would likely respond better to Midna than to him. Not long after, they heard a call from one of the boats. "Unknown vessel, identify yourself or prepare to have your ship confiscated."

Not wanting to keep the Gerudos waiting, Midna took out the Shadow Crystal and touched it to her head, instantly transforming herself into an imp. Once she was in her Imp form, she stepped out onto the main deck to respond to the Gerudos. When she did so, she saw that the ship was surrounded by no less than four motorboats, each crewed by four Gerudos. These must have been specially designed security boats. The Gerudos were all armed with rifles and halberds. They wore purple tube tops that were cut off above their navels, purple pants, and purple masks over their mouths. Midna turned and faced the occupants of each of the vessels, trying to look a little cocky and annoyed at having been stopped. The Gerudos were not impressed and issued their demands again, "State your identification immediately."

"I'm Lana," the imp answered, remembering a legend about a powerful Human sorceress from another time.

"State your reason for coming so close to our fortress," one of the Gerudos demanded.

"I'm a merchant and am looking to explore close to the Arbiter's Grounds," Midna answered. "Hyrule doesn't exactly like my kind, considering I'm an imp. Maybe the people there would be more welcoming."

The Gerudos gave a smirk as if they understood what she meant. "Doubtful," she heard one of them scoff. They soon asked, "What is your cargo?"

"A little bit of everything," Midna answered honestly. "We've got some weapons, food, merchandise, trinkets, even some relics."

The Gerudos then grinned. "A little bit of everything, eh? Maybe you could let us take a look."

"Actually, I really have to be going," Midna answered attempting to sound nervous. "I heard there was a convention near the Arbiter's Grounds, so I'd like to get there as soon as possible."

"There's no convention there," one of the Gerudos stated plainly. "Looks like you made your trip for nothing. Even worse is that this area of the sea is dangerous. There are a ton of pirates and brigands here. No one will miss you when you die."

"About that…" Midna stated just before the gun ports on her vessel opened and revealed four guns, catching the Gerudos completely by surprise. One of the Gerudos on each ship went to the cannons to swivel them into position but it was already too late. The moment the gun ports had opened, the cannons unleashed their deadly hail of lead. The cannonballs tore into the small motorboats and destroyed them with single hits. A single volley took down each of the motorboats that had come to meet them.

"Gun it, pilot! Get us out of here!" Midna cried, keeping Link's identity secret, trying to make it appear as if she were the captain.

The ship lurched forward as Link pushed the throttle to full power and the ship fled the scene. The Gerudos that had not died from the boats' sinking were too busy treading water and trying to get back to the island, or to any other patrol boats, to even think of mounting a pursuit. By the time they would be rescued, Link's vessel would be long gone.

After another hour of travel, the ship was within sight of the Arbiter's Grounds. Along the way, it had encountered a Gerudo Pirate ship that had been away from the fortress, likely searching for new booty to bring back to the base, but the vessel was swiftly dispatched by a single rocket, whose explosion tore the ship in half. Later on, a Hyrulean man-of-war accosted the small ship, but its wooden frame proved to be insufficient to protect it from a couple of rockets from Link's vessel. After sinking the Hyrulean man-of-war, the way to the Arbiter's Grounds was clear.

As the Arbiter's Grounds appeared over the horizon, Link stepped out onto the main deck and used his Hawkeye to scan the area to see if there were any Hyrulean vessels or other ships protecting it. So far, he spotted nothing suspicious around the rocky structure. Still, they did not mean that the Arbiter's Grounds and Spirit Barrier were unprotected. If the Dark Spirit Sage was as powerful as feared, he knew that the sage would be difficult to defeat.

The ship slowed down a bit as they approached the Arbiter's Grounds, looking for a point of entry to the structure. They scanned the perimeter of the structure and found a small harbor on the west side, probably the same harbor that Link had been picked up from. They motored up to the dock, which still showed the scars of Link's battle against Veran, and pulled next to the wooden dock. Once they anchored the ship to the ground, they departed from the bridge and proceeded to make their way into the Arbiter's Grounds.

The duo quickly walked away from the dock and up the stairs towards the coliseum and the open-air atrium that houses the Mirror Chamber. When they arrived in the coliseum, they took a moment to scan their surroundings. The Mirror Chamber was completely devoid of activity. Midna then went to the place where the Mirror of Twilight had once stood. Now, there was nothing there, the mirror having been shattered and its frame and fragments being reduced to dust only to blow away in the wind. The former Twilight Queen looked down at the ground, a glum expression crossing her face. The Twilight Realm had been her home and instead of going with her people or even returning to Hyrule and using the Triforce to wish herself back with them, she had wound up in this nightmarish version of the realm. It was almost as if it was not even the same realm that they had originally come from. Seeing Midna pausing, Link approached.

"Is everything okay?"

Midna looked back at him and smiled, nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's get this over with."

"And it will be over sooner than you expected," a female voice gloated from behind.

Link and Midna turned to see a young Hylian woman, only slightly older than Midna standing before them. She had blonde hair, green eyes, and was dressed in a gold dress that covered her from her neck to her ankles. She also held a rod in her left hand with a red and blue crystal head. Link focused his attention on the woman and almost instinctively drew the Master Sword along with his Mirror Shield.

"Who are you?" he asked, though he already suspected the answer.

The woman merely laughed. "I am the Dark Sage of Spirit," she answered haughtily. "And you are both going to die!" she finished.

With that, the Dark Sage of Spirit held up her hand and a ball of dark black and gold energy formed in front of it. Link readied his Mirror Shield but strongly suspected that something was strange about this attack and was on guard, glancing over at Midna, who nodded, indicating that she knew that there was something strange about this oncoming attack as well. The Dark Sage quickly pushed her hand forward and thrust the ball towards the ground in front of the hero.

Link quickly moved forward to intercept the attack. Diving forward, he managed to catch the ball of energy on his shield and reflect it back at the Dark Sage of Spirit, which did not seem to surprise the sage at all. The Dark Sage of Spirit quickly raised a magical shield over herself. The ball of magic struck the shield and enveloped it, but the shield did not strain to stop the ball. Instead, the shield merely absorbed the ball and allowed it to be channeled harmlessly back into the Dark Sage's body. The Dark Sage of Spirit then grinned down at the heroes.

"You'll have to do better than that," she taunted.

Midna then grinned and raised her hand, forming a ball of Twilight Magic in it. With nary a word, she propelled the ball of magic at the Dark Sage with blinding speed, greatly surprising the Sage. The ball of magic struck the shield and the shield struggled against the ball as it was pushing against it, trying to breach it. The ball eventually proved to be too much for the shield to absorb and it shattered, a sound resembling shattering glass echoing all throughout the atrium with magical sparkles flying in all directions as if they had been shards of glass. Still, the shield had managed to hold out enough so that none of Midna's attack managed to bleed through. However, the real challenge was about to come.

Link, seeing that the Dark Sage's defenses were down, pulled out a Fire Arrow and notched it to his bow. Pulling back on his string, the red crystal surrounding the arrowhead erupted into a ring of fire and once the hero had drawn a bead on the Dark Sage, he let fly with his arrow. Since the Dark Sage was ground-bound, she was unable to evade the speeding arrow. It struck her in the chest and an explosion of fire erupted from the point of impact with the sage. The Dark Sage caught fire but instead of crying out and flailing, she went to work casting a spell to extinguish the flame. She cried out and managed to extinguish the flames, even after the flames dispersed, it was clear that she had suffered damage, for her face and dress were marred with burns and scorch marks.

Seeing that the Fire Arrow worked against the Dark Sage, Link decided to try using an Ice Arrow to see if he could get a quick victory over the Dark Sage. Drawing out the Ice Arrow, he notched it to his bow and pulled back on the string. The Dark Sage, however, saw the Ice Arrow's crystal burst into a ring of icy energy and she prepared herself for the arrow. Link released his bowstring and the arrow streaked towards the Dark Sage. This time, however, the Dark Sage erected a barrier of flame around her that strongly resembled Din's Fire. The expanding barrier engulfed the Ice Arrow and promptly melted the ice while incinerating the wooden arrow, itself. The Dark Sage grinned.

"That Ice Arrow may have worked on me if you had chosen to use it before the Fire Arrow," she commented arrogantly. "But you didn't," she finished, widening her grin. "And now, I know that it's your only chance against me. You have nothing that can stop me."

Outwardly, Link gritted his teeth in dissatisfaction, but secretly, he suppressed a smirk. The Dark Sage was underestimating him and possibly did not even know about his Light Arrow. However, before the hero could ready a Light Arrow to surprise the Dark Sage, Midna extended her hand and shot a lance of Twilight Magic towards the Dark Sage of Spirit. The Dark Sage was taken completely off guard by the attack and the lance managed to pierce the Dark Sage in the shoulder, punching a hole in the Dark Sage's left shoulder. The Dark Sage gave a cry of shock and grabbed her injured shoulder, glaring at the former Twilight Queen. Despite the wound, though, the Dark Sage was still able to fight.

She raised her right hand and powered another ball of black and gold energy. Link, however, decided to close the distance between the two of them so he rushed towards her as she powered up the ball of magic. When he was only ten feet away, she launched the ball of magic right at him. The hero was ready for her attack, though, and performed a Great Spin to either deflect the ball away from him, or actually reflect it right back at the Dark Sage. The wave of energy released by the Great Spin was more than sufficient to reflect the magical ball back at the Dark Sage. The Dark Sage reflexively raised another shield over herself to absorb the ball but Midna had other ideas. The moment the shield was erected, Midna fired a ball of Twilight Magic to collapse the shield. The ball of Twilight Magic struck the shield and immediately shattered it into a thousand magical sparkles, allowing the reflected ball of magic to strike the sage. The ball of energy struck the Dark Sage and black and the Dark Sage gave out a cry of pain as black and gold sparks of magic arced across her body, completely numbing it, paralyzing her. Not giving the Dark Sage of Spirit a chance to recover, Link charged in and thrust his sword into the Dark Sage's chest. The sword bit through the Dark Sage's chest, having more difficulty than Link would have initially expected, and then pierced the Dark Sage's heart.

The moment the Dark Sage's heart was pierced, Link withdrew the blade and cracks of golden light formed across the Dark Sage's body. The cracks continued to expand and soon, the sage's body erupted into an unnatural golden flame. After a few seconds, the body was completely consumed by the flames, leaving nothing behind, not even ashes.

Once the Dark Sage of Fire was dead, Link checked his surroundings to try to locate the Dark Spirit Barrier. However, as he scanned the chamber, he saw no signs of a potential barrier. Going back to Midna, he asked, "Can you sense the Dark Spirit Barrier anywhere around here?"

Midna closed her eyes and opened her magical senses to try to find the location of the Dark Spirit Barrier. The fact that the Dark Sage of Spirit was dead meant that there would likely be no other magical sources that could confuse her magical scan. She quickly felt something coming from inside the Arbiter's Grounds, itself. It was not too far away, though it was at least a floor or two down.

"I'm sensing a strong source of magic from inside the temple a floor down or so. It _should_ be the Dark Spirit Barrier," she answered with some uncertainty.

Link nodded and then scanned the Mirror Chamber for an exit that led into the temple. Looking around, he spotted a switch a few meters away from the pedestal that the Mirror of Twilight had once stood on. Going over to the switch, he stepped on it and an outline formed on the ground. A platform a few feet in width began to retreat into the ground, prompting Midna to rush over to the hero to join him. After she joined him, they both rode the platform into the temple, both of the heroes standing ready for whatever they would face inside.

As soon as the lift stopped, they stepped off of it and found themselves standing inside a narrow corridor where the two of them could walk abreast, if just barely. There was a red carpet lining the floor leading down the corridor, which surprised them. It was almost as if it were leading to a throne room of some sort. They cautiously made their way down the corridor, each of them knowing that this would be the perfect place for an ambush, Link raising his Hylian Shield out in front of him and keeping it up in order to intercept any attack that may come his way. The battle against the Dark Sage had been too easy and both he and Midna were concerned that there were more traps and trials awaiting them. The duo continued down the corridor until they spotted a doorway in the distance. So far, though, there were no traps to speak of.

When they arrived at the doorway, Link stepped forward and placed his hands on a stone panel next to the door. Pushing the panel inward, the grinding of gears sounded and the door immediately began to rise. As the door rose, the heroes looked inside and saw a large room and saw the red carpet continue into the room. As soon as the door had risen completely, the duo entered the room.

The interior of the room was completely bare save for a large ball in the center of the room that had tendrils that connected it to the floor and ceiling. Energy flowed along the outer membrane of the ball, which gave it away as being the Spirit Barrier. As Link studied the barrier, though, he thought that he could see something resembling a human inside the barrier. Still, he knew what he had to do. Taking out his bow, he drew out a Light Arrow and notched it to his bowstring. Pulling back on the string, the Light crystal burst forth into a ring of glowing golden light. Aiming the arrow so that it would strike the barrier just barely above the figure, not wanting to take the risk that there was someone inside the barrier and that his arrow could harm him or her, he let fly with his Light Arrow. The arrow streaked forth from his bow and pierced the barrier, puncturing it right above the faint figure, just barely missing the figure. The energy field around the barrier immediately went dark and the barrier grew in size for a second and then exploded into a thousand sparks of energy. As soon as the Spirit Barrier had been destroyed, the form of a Hylian girl was revealed, shocking both Link and Midna.

Link immediately dropped his bow and shield as he rushed over to the girl to catch her as she began to fall, quickly being followed by Midna. However, Midna reached the girl first and managed to catch her before the girl touched the ground. After catching her, she gently laid the girl on the ground. When she got a good look at the girl's face, she cocked her head in curiosity and surprise, for there was something definitely familiar about this girl. Link came over to check on the girl and when he saw her face, he immediately recoiled in surprise, for the girl looked almost identical to Tetra, save for having longer hair. It was clear, though, that the girl was a relative of the evil Zelda, possibly a sister or even a daughter, though if the barrier had been keeping her in stasis, it would mean that she would have been too old to be the evil Zelda's biological daughter. She was also dressed similarly to Tetra only she was clad in a pink dress with a white short-sleeved shirt underneath. After a few seconds, she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at her rescuers. Her expression immediately turned to shock and she quickly rose and assumed a fighter's stance.

She stretched out her hand and unleashed a stream of flame at Link, prompting him to dash to the side to avoid the flame, for its stream was too wide for him to catch with either the Hylian Shield or the Mirror Shield. The stream of flame flew past him and struck the ground a few meters away, flame spreading from the point of impact ten meters in each direction, creating a large circle of what looked to be a small pool of lava and flame. Link's eyes went wide at the girl's power. She was every bit as powerful as Tetra, likely even more so. And she looked to be nowhere close to being winded. Turning back to the girl, her expression showed complete anger and hatred, though it seemed to be a different type of hatred. There was a look of righteous fury in her expression, as if she hated him because he was truly evil, rather than merely being an opponent. It was clear that she believed him to be the other Link.

"Wait, I'm not the evil Link!" he called out to her, trying to convince her that he was not her enemy. He then put his shield on his back and raised his hands, showing that he had no weapons drawn.

"Yeah right," she retorted as she fired a ball of ice his way, prompting him to dash out of the way. As with the ball of fire, when the ball of ice hit the floor, a circle of ice spread out about ten meters in each direction.

"It's true, he's not," Midna called out to the girl, prompting her to turn her attention towards the former Twilight Queen.

"And you are…?"

"Midna," came the answer. "The Dark Woman," she clarified.

"Never heard of you," the girl answered as she fired a lance of Light magic Midna's way, prompting the Twilight Queen to erect a shield. The lance struck the Twilight Shield and caused it to flare. Cracks formed on the shield at the point of impact, but it managed to hold strong against the girl's attack, though the Twili woman did not want to test her shield's strength against another lance of light.

Before the girl could fire another lance at Midna, though, Link interspersed himself between the two, drawing out the Master Sword, hoping that the girl recognized the blade. The moment, she saw the sword, she was taken aback and her mouth hung wide open. Eventually, she managed to ask, "What sword is that?" She already knew the answer, though.

"The Master Sword," Link answered.

The girl carefully studied Link. "How did you acquire it, much less be able to hold it?"

"He's the Hero of Twilight," Midna answered. "Or at least that's what my people call him."

The girl then smiled. It was not a malicious smile, but one that showed understanding. She then shook her head at her foolishness. "My apologies Link, assuming that _is_ your name," she began.

Link nodded.

"I believed that you were my cousin's lover," she continued.

"Your cousin?" Link asked.

"My cousin Zelda," the girl answered. "She is the princess of this kingdom, assuming things haven't changed in however long I've been asleep."

"It's doubtful they have," Midna interjected.

"May I ask your name?" Link asked, sheathing his sword and putting away his shield.

The girl then gave a smile that was almost a smirk. "My name also happens to be Zelda," she answered, causing both of the heroes to be taken aback. "I know," she continued, nodding with a smile. "Once, to be named Zelda, especially if you were not in line to become a ruler of Hyrule, was considered a great honor. Now my cousin has tarnished the name; just as her lover has tarnished the name of Link." She then focused her attention on Link. "Perhaps you can bring honor back to that name. Perhaps you can help change Hyrule back to what it once was: a beacon of hope, prosperity, and goodness."

"We're trying," Link answered.

The young Zelda smiled. "Then that is all I can ask for," she answered. She then stepped forward and asked, "Is it alright if I join you on your quest? You will need help if you wish to take on my cousin and her lover."

"We'll appreciate any help you can give," Link answered. He then looked over at Midna, his glance indicating that he was requesting her thoughts on this turn of events.

"I've got no problems with her joining us," Midna answered. "It'll be a fair fight."

"Be warned, though, Uncle Nohansen is very powerful."

"I know," Midna answered. "I fought him for a bit during the fight just before the flood."

"Then you know his strength," Zelda stated. "But you'll still have trouble since there will also be Prince Daphnes and possibly Princess Tetra to deal with as well if she became anything like her uncle."

"Daphnes is dead and I haven't heard anything from Tetra since she was grievously wounded in a fight between us and her, her uncle Link, and Zelda," Link informed the young Zelda. He then waited to see how she would react to the news. Almost surprisingly, she seemed to take it quite well, only looking down at the ground.

"I can't say I'm all that surprised," she said. "Did you kill them?"

"I killed Daphnes," Link answered. "As I said before, though, I don't know if Tetra is dead, but considering we haven't heard much from her, chances are that her wounds were fatal."

"Then the fight will be a little easier," Zelda concluded. "Still, we can't underestimate my uncle, cousin, and her lover. They have the pieces of the Triforce in them and are very powerful even without them."

"We won't," Midna assured her. She then glanced around the chamber and said, "Let's get out of here and back to the ship. We have everything we need."

Link agreed and he scanned the area for the warp portal. He found the glowing portal on the other side of the chamber and rushed over to it, followed closely by Midna and the young Zelda. When they stepped onto the warp portal, a blue crystal surrounded them and they rose into the air, spinning around until the crystal lifted them out of the Arbiter's Grounds.

The crystal deposited the trio into the central pillar inside the Chamber of Sages inside the Temple of Light. Once they touched down on the ground, Link glanced around the chamber and saw a portal form on top of another pillar, the one containing the Spirit symbol. Rising from the portal was none other than Nabooru. As she rose from the pillar, she looked out into the central pillar and smiled, giving a good-hearted chuckle.

"So, it looks like I'm the Sage of Spirit," she said with a chuckle. "I can't say that when I began fighting in the rebellion that I would eventually end up a Sage. Ah well, at least I'll be able to do some more good here."

Soon, the other sages rose from their pillars and Rauru appeared in front of Link. "Link, all of the Sages have finally been awakened and have gathered together." He glanced at Link, then Midna, and finally upon the young Zelda. Focusing on Zelda, he told her, "And you are to be the new Sage of Time. You already know the magical ocarina songs and have strong magical powers. Added to those will be the powers of the Sage of Time. If you use the Ocarina of Time, you will be able to use variants of the Song of Time to speed up time for yourself or allies, slow it down, or warp ahead half a day."

Zelda nodded, understanding what Rauru was telling her. In truth, she already knew all of these things about the powers of time. She also had the ability to use other elemental magical powers, as did other Sages of Time. Her parents had told her that she was special and while she did not want to let her power go to her head, she knew that she would need to use all of it if she were to be an effective force against her cousin, her cousin's lover, and her uncle. Rauru was not finished, though.

"Zelda, you know that if you are successful that you will become the princess of Hyrule, since you will have the closest claim to the throne," Rauru told her, placing his hands on her shoulders so that she could let the gravity of the situation sink in. Zelda was taken a back and a look of fear and worry crossed her face. She had not considered that before now.

"How can I be a ruler?" she almost gasped. "I'm barely twelve."

"We will help you while you remain young," Rauru told her. Looking around, she could see the other Sages nodding their heads in support. "You will also have the support of the soldiers that were loyal to the ideals of Hyrule once Hyrule is restored."

"Can it be restored?" the girl asked.

"If you manage to wrest the Triforce from the control of King Nohansen, the evil Link and your cousin Zelda, yes," he answered. "It was a wish made with the power of the Triforce that flooded Hyrule in the first place. It can be undone by another wish."

"Then I'll do whatever I can to help save Hyrule and stop the evil reign of Uncle Nohansen and his family," the girl declared, a bright fire burning in her eyes. Rauru and the other Sages could only smile with pride in the girl. She looked just like Young Link had when he declared that he was going to fight for them against the older Link, older Zelda, and King Nohansen.

After a second, Rauru backed away a step. He then turned to Laruto and nodded. Turning back to Zelda, he told her, "You're going to need these in order to reach the evil Zelda and Link in Hyrule Castle beneath the Great Sea."

Laruto raised her hands above her head and a blue ball of energy formed on top of the ceiling. The ball descended until it was hovered over Zelda's head. She then reached up and touched the ball. A bright flash immediately burst forth as she touched the ball and the ball disappeared, being replaced by a Zora Tunic, a Gold Scale, and a pair of Iron Boots.

"The Zora Tunic will allow you to breathe underwater, while the Zora Scale will allow you to dive deeply into the water, with the Iron Boots allowing you to sink to the bottom of the sea as well as walk on said seafloor as well," Laruto explained. "These will be essential to allowing you to reach your destination."

Zelda scarcely had words to describe her gratitude and thanks, so she merely said, "Thank you. I only hope I can live up to your hopes and expectations."

"Don't worry about that," Rauru told her kindly. "You have already shown yourself to be braver than almost anyone else in Hyrule."

Zelda nodded and thanked Rauru once more. Once she had accepted the gifts, she returned to Link and Midna. Once they were ready, they stepped onto the warp panel and a blue crystal formed around them and lifted them into the air, just as the crystal was about to whisk them away and everything went white, the group heard the voices of the Sages say in unison. "Good luck, brave heroes of Hyrule. Fight well. You are our only hope." With that, the group vanished from the Chamber of Sages.

The crystal deposited the trio onto Link's ship, which was still docked in the small harbor inside the Arbiter's Grounds. As soon as they landed, Link went into the command bridge so he could get underway. The first thing he would have to do is get a Zora Tunic that fit Zelda. As he was getting ready, Zelda entered the bridge and asked, "So, what is the plan?"

"We go right to the castle," Link answered. "We don't want to give Zelda and Link time to mount a defense."

"But what about my uncle?" Zelda asked. "The last I heard, he was heading off to the Mushroom Kingdom, looking for some relic that could rival the Triforce in power. What if he doesn't come back, or he does but has found that relic?"

"Then we'll fight him and defeat him," Midna answered confidently, entering the bridge. "We can't worry too much about what may happen in the future. Right now, we need to focus on taking down Link, Zelda, and King Nohansen. Now, I know their powers so I can give you a heads up on what you will face."

Zelda went over to a pallet in the corner and sat down while Midna then went over what she knew about the evil Link, Zelda, and King Nohansen. Zelda listened carefully for any new information that she had not yet heard. Link also listened to Midna as he piloted the ship towards the location of the Hyrule Castle. He knew that once they got there, that they would have to do everything in their power to stop the evil Link, Zelda, and King Nohansen, even if it cost him his life.

Meanwhile, inside of Hyrule Castle, the evil Link awoke with a start as he rocketed from the bed, dressed in only sleeping trousers. His lover, Zelda, stirred next to him and groaned as she rose, only a simple bed sheet covering barely enough to keep her decent.

"What is it, Link?" she groaned in question.

"The barrier's lost power," he answered in an alarmed tone.

"So the Spirit Barrier has fallen," Zelda commented with another groan. "So what? Come back to bed, lover. I can still give you more pleasures of the bed."

"But if the Spirit Barrier has fallen, then Zelda will be free," Link continued, his concern growing.

"And what can she do?" the evil Zelda inquired with a chuckle. "I'm a Sage and I'm also the Princess of Hyrule. I have the Triforce of Wisdom in my hand. She has nothing that can match me."

Link was not convinced, but he did not want to argue with Zelda. After all, if she got too annoyed, she would take it out on him by not letting him experience the pleasures of the flesh with her. Besides, what she said was true. Still, there was the concern of the other warriors. Still, he said, "You're probably right. But we still will have to deal with the other two warriors. And they _will_ be tough."

"Yes," Zelda answered. "And we will be ready to meet them in battle," she answered. "The castle's defenses will be more than sufficient to at least weaken them before they reach us. Let them come, only the two of them or two thousand of them. It does not matter, we will slaughter them all," she finished arrogantly.

Link could only smirk as she made her statement. She was right. They had the Triforce pieces inside of them, along with the Light Force. The castle's defenses were almost certainly going to be difficult to overcome. He then lay back down in bed and spent the rest of the night with Zelda, allowing her to lavish him with the pleasures of the flesh.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28:

Link guided his ship through the Great Sea with Zelda sleeping in the bed behind him while Midna kept watch on the bridge's top deck. The trio was doing their best to prepare for their confrontation with the evil Link, Zelda, and possibly, even likely, King Nohansen. While Zelda was resting, Link looked over his arsenal to make certain that he had full bomb bags and that his quiver was as full as it could be, for he knew that once he got inside of Hyrule Castle, the fighting would be intense and that he would need to use his magical arrows along with the rest of his arsenal if he wanted to be able to reach his target alive, for he did not want Midna and Zelda to waste their magical stamina against legions of cannon fodder troops no matter how well-armed or armored they may have been.

Link then thought back on what Zelda had told him and Midna before she had gone to get some sleep and prepare for the upcoming fight. He had suspected that the evil Link was powerful since he had a piece of the Triforce in his hand, but he had not known just how powerful the villain really was. The fact that he had all three of the Goddess Spells was troubling, but it was the fact that he had access to other magical weaponry, medallions, and spells that made him so dangerous. It also made Midna's feat of standing up to both him and the evil Zelda that much more impressive.

Not too far into the journey, Link's ship came across a frigate of the Hyrulean Navy. The frigate did not make any pretence of merely wanting to search them for illegal cargo or anything else. It just viewed them as a ship that needed to be sunk. Fortunately, Midna caught sight of the frigate before it was inside of firing range and she managed to erect a shield over the ship as the frigate could fire.

Quickly going back down to Link's cabin, she alerted the hero, "Link, we've got a frigate to our bow and it's turning to bring its broadside guns to bear."

That was all Link needed to hear in order to deploy the main cannon. He deployed the main cannon and the cannon rose from the center of the main deck. Once it was fully deployed, a rocket issued forth from it, streaking towards the frigate as it opened fire on the small ship. The volley of cannon fire struck the shield that Midna had erected, causing the ship to shudder with each impact. Even with the shaking, though, the ship was in no danger of capsizing. One volley of fire was all the frigate managed to get off before Link's rocket struck the frigate amidships and destroyed it, wood splinters flying out from the point of impact. The rocket literally cut the ship in half and the two halves sank beneath the waves, becoming another casualty in the war.

The sounds of battle happened to awaken Zelda, who slowly rose from the bed as the battle had ended. She looked at Link and saw that he was still piloting the ship, though he had a more focused look. Getting up, she looked out the window and saw that the main cannon was deployed.

"Oh, did I miss anything? Is everything alright?" she asked curiously along with some concern.

"We're fine," Link answered. "We encountered a frigate but we sank it. You can get some more rest if you need it."

"I'm fine," Zelda answered. "Besides, I'm already up anyway. Also, if we run into any more trouble, I can help deploy and control the ship's other weapons systems."

Link had no problem with that and he went back to piloting the ship, following the map very closely, for he wanted to make sure that he was as close to Hyrule Castle as possible when he and the others made their dive. While he did so, Zelda extended her magical sight, sensing that Midna was already doing likewise. While she did not sense any ships close by, she knew how her cousin thought. There was no way that the forces of Hyrule would not have the castle be heavily defended, both inside and out. With the stasis field being up under the Great Sea, the only real defense that could be mounted outside of the castle would be by means of the fleet. The only question was how many ships would Zelda bring to the castle's defense?

Meanwhile, inside Hyrule Castle, the fallen Link had already been awake for a couple of hours and was practicing his sword skills against an empty Darknut suit that had been animated by Zelda's magic. Princess Zelda did not approve of his practice sessions, but he did not really care. He needed to be on edge for this fight. The Hero of Twilight Link and the Dark Woman had already proven to be difficult opponents. He could not afford to underestimate them. After all, the younger Link he had fought had pushed him to the brink in their battle before he had fought the Dark Woman. He did not want to risk losing to the Hero of Twilight, especially since the Master Sword granted the hero some form of mid-range energy attack and while his defensive spells would be useful in a fight, he knew that there were ways around any defense.

The Darknut took a swipe at the fallen Link, prompting him to intercept the blow with his shield. The villain retaliated by pulling back his sword, focusing his magic into the blade, causing it to glow a bright blue. He then thrust the sword forward, piercing the Darknut's shield and armor, an orange glow surrounding the stab wound the armor suit sustained. Fallen Link withdrew his blade and grinned as the Darknut suit fell to the ground, defeated. His blade returned to normal and he sheathed it.

He soon heard the door behind him creak as it was pushed open. In stepped Princess Zelda, adorned in a white dress, said to be the same style of dress that was worn by the goddess Hylia. She came in and frowned as she watched the suit of Darknut armor vanish in an unnatural blue flame.

"Practicing on our security force?" she asked disapprovingly.

"Yeah, so?" came Link's response, not seeing why she had a problem with his training against a Darknut.

"That Darknut could have been used to help defend the castle," came Zelda's answer.

"I need to hone my skills and remain on edge for what's coming," Link told her. "The Darknuts provide the greatest challenge."

"We are sitting beneath the Great Sea, protected by twenty ships of the line as well as a legion of Armos, Darknuts, and Iron Knuckles inside the castle. The chances of the hero, the Dark Woman, and my cousin reaching us are very slim."

"But not impossible," Link stated harshly. "We can't afford to take any chances. Besides, one Darknut won't make too much of a difference in the grand scheme of things down here. The heroes will make it past our defenses and we will be forced to fight them. I want to be ready for _that_."

"That's not guaranteed," Zelda countered. "The defenses here may well be enough to stop them, and if not stop them, then greatly weaken them."

"And what if they aren't?" Link challenged. "Are you willing to take that chance?"

"If they make it past our defenses, which I think you want since the hero killed Tetra," Link scowled at Zelda's mention of their daughter, "then we'll kill them. After all, we have two of the Triforce pieces as well as the Light Force. We'll easily be able to defeat three heroes who have what? The Master Sword? That's it."

"We still shouldn't get too cocky," Link warned. "Your father doesn't seem to be interested in coming back to Hyrule anytime soon. If we get in trouble, we'll be on our own."

"I know," Zelda said, nodding. "So we'll just have to make sure we don't get in trouble. Anyway, we'll know when they get here. While the barrier is weakened, it's still up. They won't get by it without alerting us to their presence."

"And then the fight will begin," Link finished.

And with that, Link went back to practicing while Zelda simply retreated and put the finishing touches to the castle's defenses and in calling in the rest of the forces that would be defending Hyrule Castle.

Back out at sea, the Hero of Twilight Link and the crew of his small ship were in the midst of an encounter with two cruisers, both of which had metal hulls. Link fired a rocket from the main cannon at the ship off the port side while Zelda used her magic to control the cannons on the starboard side. The rocket struck the port side ship and blew a massive hole into its side. Despite the damage inflicted by the rocket, though, the ship was still seaworthy and was able to launch a counterattack. The volley of cannon fire struck the shield that Midna had erected around the ship and it flared with each strike. Despite the volume of fire, the shield still held, though it was beginning to weaken. The fire from the ship's port cannons unleashed a volley of cannonballs of its own into the cruiser. Several of the cannonballs struck the side of the hull and bounced off of it, but some managed to sail into the hole in the side of the cruiser and exploded inside the ship. The explosions managed to detonate a powder magazine inside the cruiser, for the cruiser promptly exploded, pelting the shield over Link's ship. That left only the cruiser on the starboard side.

The starboard cruiser continued to pour fire into the shield of Link's vessel. Still, the shield managed to hold and the return fire managed to pierce the hull of the cruiser. Despite several cannonballs managing to breach the hull, the cruiser was still able to stay afloat. The next volley of cannon fire from Link's ship was sufficient to sink the cruiser, though. A hit to the waterline caused the ship to list to its starboard side and take on water. Link's vessel steamed away as the cruiser sank, the crew of the ship doing their best to evacuate the wreck before it was completely submerged but less than a third of the crew made it into the water. With the two cruisers having been dealt with, Link's ship continued towards Hyrule Castle.

For the next hour, Link encountered no further resistance from the Hyrulean Navy. During the lull, Link went over to the cannons and reloaded them, bringing cannonballs and powder kegs to the cannons so that they could be reloaded much more easily. While he did so, Midna reinforced the shield over the ship, which was beginning to fluctuate due to the fire from the two cruisers. While he was busy with the cannons and Midna was reinforcing the ship's shields, Zelda extended her magical senses to scan for any enemy vessels. She wanted to know where the defense fleet was before the fleet found them. While fighting multiple ships was not something that Zelda relished, she knew that it would be unavoidable and she wanted to strike first, hopefully sinking a few of them before the others fired on them.

After another fifteen minutes, they were coming up to the location where Hyrule Castle was buried beneath the Great Sea. As they came up to the location on the map, Zelda extended her senses and spotted six ships waiting for them at the coordinates while the other fourteen were on patrol and could converge on them at a moment's notice. The trio wanted to get rid of these ships and potentially any others that managed to reach them before they dove down to the castle.

Knowing that the ships were Hyrulean ships, Link targeted the lead ship, a large battleship with a metal hull, and fired several rockets at it as quickly as his main cannon could launch them. Rocket after rocket erupted from the cannon, the automatic loaders loading new rockets as quickly as possible. The long range of the rockets allowed them to hit the massive battleship before it had closed in enough for Link's small ship to be within its firing range. The rockets scored direct hits on the metallic hull of the warship close to the waterline, the hero knowing that with the strong hull of the battleship, only a hit on the waterline would have any chance of sinking the ship. Several rockets struck the hull but failed to penetrate. Then a subsequent rocket managed to pierce the battelship's hull, blowing a hole in its port side as it was turning to bring its broadside guns to bear on Link's small ship. The hole was close to the waterline but not quite on it, so there was no real danger to the battleship, until a second rocket miraculously streaked into the hole and detonated inside the ship. The explosion inside the ship was enough to set off the powder magazine on that level as well as blow a hole not only in the side of the ship, but also in its bottom. The ship almost instantly sank beneath the waves as a large section of its bottom went missing. With the battleship having been dealt with, Link, Midna, and Zelda quickly went to work dealing with the five subsequent vessels, each of which was significantly weaker than the battleship.

Link fired a rocket at the nearest ship, a wooden man-of-war that, while large, its wooden hull was woefully insufficient to deal with such an explosive. The rocket struck the man-of-war amidships and split it in half, both sides promptly sinking into the sea. The three other ships, each of them large frigates, were dealt with by three subsequent rockets. Once the ship had sunk, Link settled his ship into position over the point where they would make their dive.

Zelda promptly put on her Zora Tunic and Iron Boots while Link put on his Zora Armor and his own Iron Boots. Once that was done, Midna went over to Link and faded into his shadow so that she would survive the trip down to Hyrule Castle. As they went out onto the main deck, the rest of the defense fleet had detected them and were closing in on them. Link promptly handed Zelda the Ocarina of Time so she could play the Song of Time, allowing them to pass through the stasis field without being frozen in it.

Before she could play the Song of Time, though, a jet of water erupted from the sea just in front of the ship, shocking her and causing her to take a few steps back. A cannonball had missed the ship by mere inches. Looking out into the distance, she spotted the rest of the defense fleet, all fourteen of them being ships of the line, approaching their position, more smoke clouds erupting from the forward guns of the ships, indicating that ships had opened fire. Midna quickly erected a shield just as two cannonballs splashed into the sea off their bow, sending up more jets of water into the air. The rest of the cannonballs would have hit their mark if not for Midna's shield. Seeing that it would be useless to conserve ammunition, Link promptly went back into the bridge and proceeded to fire on the ships with his rockets, hoping that he had enough to deal with the massive warships that were pounding his small ship, each hit to the shield causing the ship to shudder.

Rocket after rocket streamed from the ship's main cannon, Link targeting the wooden ships first, wanting to take them down before concentrating on the metallic ships. Single rockets were more than sufficient to take down each of the wooden ships, which consisted of half of the remaining fleet. Despite their size, their wooden hulls were simply not strong enough to withstand the explosive power of the rockets that struck them. Each ship was either split in half or outright shattered when the rockets hit them. Still, despite half of the defense fleet being destroyed so quickly, Link knew that the battle was far from over, for the seven other ships were cruiser size and larger, each of them having metallic hulls, as well as rocket launchers, which they were quick to use.

The metallic cruisers and even the battleship quickly opened fire on Link's small ship. Midna reinforced the shield over the hull from inside the hero's shadow but she knew that she would not be able to keep pumping energy into it indefinitely. She partially emerged from Link's shadow and alerted him to that fact. "Link, I can't keep pumping energy into the shield if you want me to have any energy for the fight in Hyrule Castle."

"I know," Link answered. "Don't worry about it. Just get ready for the dive. We'll all have to be at full strength for the fight inside the castle."

Midna nodded and retreated back into Link's shadow. After she did so, Link watched as Zelda readied the cannons as the fleet was closing in on their ship. Link's rocket fire had managed to sink the battleship, a series of rockets having struck the large vessel at its waterline and the crew was unable to seal the lower decks. Another barrage of rockets sunk a heavy cruiser, blowing a series of large holes into the metallic ship. That left five more ships to deal with, all of them cruisers.

He maneuvered the ship to the left, bringing his starboard broadside guns to bear on the cruiser. Zelda used her magic to load the cannons with Water Bombs, hoping that the explosives would be able to pierce the hull of the cruiser. Once the ship was in position, Link's small ship opened fire on the cruiser. The bombs arced in the air while the main cannon swiveled into position and launched a rocket straight at the cruiser, targeting the ship's waterline. The bombs struck the side of the cruiser's hull, striking one of the gun ports, exploding against the guns and blowing a hole in the hull, injuring or killing the gun crew of the weapon that was destroyed, while other bombs exploded against the hull of the ship but inflicted negligible damage. The rocket, however, inflicted far greater damage to the ship, striking the ship at its waterline. The rocket's detonation blew a hole in the ship, causing it to take on water. A subsequent Water Bomb then flew into the hole and detonated, making the hole even bigger and igniting a small powder keg, causing more internal damage to the ship. The damage was too great for the ship to survive and it listed to its left, eventually submerging beneath the waves.

The four other ships continued to pump fire into the shield surrounding the vessel, causing Link to target the next closest cruiser. He fired a barrage of cannonballs and rockets at the cruiser, eventually sinking it, but not before the shield Midna had raised over the ship was greatly weakened. Still, they had to deal with three more cruisers and the shield appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

He quickly unloaded into a third cruiser, managing to sink it, but the remains of the shield Midna had deployed collapsed, leaving the ship vulnerable to fire from the two remaining cruisers. The cruisers quickly went to bring their broadside guns to bear on the small ship. However, before they could fire, a volley of rockets seemingly from nowhere slammed into the hulls of the two cruisers and destroyed them. Link looked out at the sea and saw four metallic cruisers approaching. Putting on his Hawkeye, he checked to see who they were, for they did not seem to be affiliated with Hyrule. When he scanned them, he found that the flag that was raised above their masts had a sun symbol, indicating that they were Hyrulean rebels. Once the ships were within range of Link and the others to be able to see the captains, the captains nodded and saluted the hero. He returned their salutes and then went over to Zelda. Zelda promptly played the Song of Time, the hero listening to the soothing melody as he felt a wave of magic flow over him. Once the song was complete, he knew that it was time for them to make the dive. Zelda proceeded to make her way over to the edge of the ship and she then jumped into the water, followed closely by Link. As they dove down to the castle, the rebel task force that assisted them retreated, likely heading back to Kakariko Island so that they would be safe should Link and the others be successful in their mission.

The heroes dove down into the water, Link glancing around at the familiar scene of the flooded Hyrule Castle Town as they got closer to the stasis barrier. As they descended, Link scanned the area for any Skullfish but he found none. Thanking the goddesses for that convenience, he continued his dive, approaching the barrier. As the group passed through the barrier a strange tingly feeling came over the two. After they were through the barrier, the sensation promptly ceased and they continued their descent. As they descended, they were able to spot the location of Hyrule Castle. The shimmering barrier was still up, but it looked to be fluctuating. The group guided their descent so that they would only be a dozen meters away from the outskirts of the barrier or so.

"Let me handle this," Midna said aloud from Link's shadow.

"No," Zelda answered, shaking her head. "Let me do it. I have magical spells designed to collapse shields that should work on the barrier without revealing too much of my power, or draining my magic significantly. While you may be strong, you'll need to be at full power if my uncle arrives."

Seeing the wisdom in Zelda's suggestion, Midna did not argue with the girl and let her go about the business of collapsing the shield. As they touched down onto the seafloor, Zelda stepped forward, and held up her hand. As she did so, a shimmering ball of light appeared in front of it. Then suddenly, a lance of golden light erupted from her hand and struck the shield. The lance struck the shield, causing it to flare and ripple, as if it were struggling to keep the lance back. Soon, the edge of the lance managed to burrow its way into the shield, causing cracks to form all over the shield. Zelda then stepped back as the cracks became brighter and brighter. Then, the shield shattered and there was a rush of water as it flooded the unoccupied space between the castle and the barrier. Despite the strength of the waters, though, the castle's doors were not breached and the walls did not appear to be suffering from damage.

With the shield having collapsed, Link and Zelda rushed towards the castle's front door, which was still intact despite the water crashing into it. The water made it unlikely for the castle to have any extra defenses on the castle's exterior but Link still kept a watchful eye out just in cast he was proven wrong. So far, though, there was no sign of extra defenses. When the group approached the front door, they saw that it was closed. Zelda stepped forward and closed her eyes for a bit, scanning the door and the area beyond to see if there was magic that was preventing it from opening, for she had suspected that it would have succumbed to the rushing water and at least cracked, if not broken entirely. Surprisingly, she found no magic protecting the door, indicating that a simple push would be more than sufficient to open it and grant them entry into the castle. Even better was that she sensed no less than a dozen Darknuts and Iron Knuckles standing close to the main entrance. Since there was no magic that she could sense over the door reinforcing it or keeping back the water, the resulting flood would either destroy or disable the knights and suits of armor. She looked at Link and nodded, grinning. The hero proceeded to make his way to the door and grabbed the latch. He then proceeded to push the door inwards.

The water immediately flooded into the castle, the Iron Boots worn by Zelda and Link being the only thing keeping them from being swept into the castle by the flood. The water crashed down upon the Darknuts and Iron Knuckles, carrying them along until they crashed into the wall at the end of the hallway. Link and Zelda then took off their Iron Boots for a time and let the water carry them in. Once they were close to the fallen suits of armor, they put on their Iron Boots once more, Link taking out a couple of Water Bombs and placing them next to the suits of armor. He then walked away as the fuse burned down and the bombs eventually exploded, taking out the fallen suits of armor and Darknuts.

Link and Zelda then tromped over to the stairwell that led up to the next level not bothering to look at the scenery before them. As such, they missed the statues, artwork, and even ceremonial swords and shields that lined the wall. After walking up the stairs, they came to a door that led further into the castle. Zelda then pushed open the door, allowing more water to flow into the interior of the castle.

The water flooded the next level as well, crashing into more Darknuts and even the Armos statues. The Darknuts were very adversely affected by the flood and were carried away with the water, crashing into the wall at the other end of the room and falling to the ground in a heap. The six Armos statues withstood the water far better than the Darknuts did, not moving an inch, instead, merely being activated by the onrushing flood. Still, the flood was enough to hinder their movements, making it difficult for them to charge the heroes. Link had no issues with them, though, quickly dispatching them with single Water Bombs for each statue. When each bomb detonated near each Armos, the damage was fatal but they did not immediately die. They gave a muffled roar and proceeded to spin around, trying to jump through the water towards the heroes, the water not allowing them to get close to the heroes before they exploded into small rock fragments.

After a few more seconds, the door that the heroes had entered from promptly closed. That told them that their arrival was known and also that the evil Link and Zelda must not have had Zora Tunics or Zora Armor to resist the water and that they were not going to let Link and Zelda play around any longer. The duo quickly moved through the room, making their way over to a large set of gold double doors which, if Zelda remembered correctly, would take them to the throne room. The heroes went over to the doors and pushed them inward, allowing them to open, as well as the water that had flooded the room to flow out of it and into the throne room.

The interior of the throne room was sparsely furnished, unlike the throne room of Hyrule Castle Island had been. Besides the red carpet, all Link and Zelda could see was a golden throne at the other side of the room. The heroes did not like this. The room was also very dark and it was difficult to make out the shapes inside the room, though there were two other shapes near the throne. It was the perfect room for a fight where ranged weaponry could be used to great effect, for there was little cover available to them.

As the heroes stepped in, they quickly saw the water that had flooded into the room vanish as if it had been willed to leave and it was left as dry as it had been before the flood. The large golden double doors promptly slammed shut, prompting Zelda to scowl as she looked forward.

"Well, well, well, it seems as if the bothersome heroes have finally arrived," they heard a sinister female voice echo throughout the room. The voice was young, that of a late teenager.

"They come to their death," echoed a young male voice answered. The male's voice prompted Link to scowl. He quickly removed his Zora Armor, placing it in his sack, and drew out the Master Sword and Hylian Shield.

With that, lights sprang into existence along the wall. Glancing at the wall, the heroes were able to tell that the light came from the numerous torches that lined the throne room's wall. There were also two torches that flanked the throne. Standing in front of the throne were none other than the evil Zelda and Fallen Link. Link and Zelda both scowled at their foes while Midna emerged from Link's shadow and glared at the enemy duo. The duo almost frowned.

"Well this hardly seems fair. It's three against two," the evil Zelda mock-complained.

"I can change that pretty quickly," Fallen Link seethed as he glared at Link, the hero meeting his gaze. Fallen Link held out his sword and had a shield that resembled a Hylian Shield but the images on the shield were a little different. He also noticed that there was a rod strapped to the Fallen Link's back. "That bastard that killed my daughter belongs to me," he growled as he took a step towards Link, holding out his sword.

"Yeah, leave me with the girls," Zelda retorted as if she were feigning a complaint. She then turned and grinned at Zelda and Midna. "So, who wants to die first?"

Both Midna and Zelda glared at the princess, with Midna stepping out in front of the child. Zelda, however, took a step back in order to monitor the situation. She wanted to assist whoever needed the help the most and she felt as if it would be Link since she knew something of Fallen Link's skills and magic, as well as the power of the Four Sword. Still, there was something about the Twilight Hero Link that was different from the Young Link that had fought her cousin and her lover. He was not only skilled with the sword, but she also got the impression that he was also skilled with other items and could use them to great effect, even greater than that of Young Link, despite the fact that he did not have any magic, save for the crystal spells, which would be of little use against Fallen Link. Link held up the Master Sword, causing Fallen Link to grit his teeth.

"That sword refused to let me wield it and because of that, Zelda died," he seethed. "None of this would have happened if that blade had let me be its master."

"Maybe the blade recognized something inside of you that made you unworthy of it," Zelda retorted.

"You stay out of this girl!" Fallen Link roared.

He then focused his attention back on Link and held the Four Sword high as he charged forward. Link steeled himself, ready to intercept Fallen Link's assault. Fallen Link brought his sword down on Link, who intercepted it with his Hylian Shield, a loud clang issuing forth. Fallen Link quickly followed up with a series of slashes and stabs, each of them easily dodged or parried by the Hero of Twilight. Then it was Link's turn to go on the offensive. He performed a vertical strike at the Fallen Link, forcing the villain to raise his shield to intercept the attack. The sword bounced off of the shield and Fallen Link proceeded to thrust his sword forward. Link countered by thrusting his shield forward, performing a Shield Attack. The thrust pushed Fallen Link back, causing him to lower his guard. Link quickly went in, performing a horizontal strike. Fallen Link was too slow to be able to raise his sword or shield to intercept the Master Sword, so all he could do was jump back and hope that he managed to avoid the strike. The Master Sword managed to bite into a bit of the villain's tunic, but other then a cut to his clothing, Fallen Link was fine. However, the cut was still a little too close for Fallen Link's comfort and he wanted to make sure that Link did not get a chance to get that close again.

He backed away and proceeded to slash his sword at Link, an energy beam in the shape of a sword being emitted with each slash. Link retaliated with slashes of his own, each one batting the Sword Beams back at Fallen Link, forcing the villain to raise his shield in order to intercept them. The villain grimaced. The Sword Beams were useless against the hero. Fallen Link was not finished yet, though. Sheathing the Four Sword for a bit, he proceeded to draw out the rod that he had behind his back. He held it aloft and it opened up into a rod staff that had a flower-shaped head. He then pointed the rod at Link and yelled, "Try dodging this!"

That was Link's cue to draw out the Mirror Shield. Taking out the highly polished shield, he allowed Fallen Link to unleash a massive stream of flame his way. Holding out the Mirror Shield, Link caught the stream of flame on his shield, which absorbed the flame and drew it into it. As the flame was being absorbed into the shield, a red circle formed on the shield and it began to pulse. In addition to the pulsing, a sound resembling an alarm klaxon sounded, indicating that it was absorbing a powerful spell. Still, Fallen Link continued to send out more fire Link's way, the stream widening but being drawn in by the properties of the Mirror Shield. As the flame was being drawn in, the pulsing quickened and the chime rose in pitch and speed.

Seeing that the stream was merely feeding the Mirror Shield, Fallen Link cut off the flow of flame coming from it, hoping to prevent it from being able to be used against him. He was not too concerned, though. He still had some other tricks. His magical rod was more than just a Fire Rod. He pushed a button on the side of the rod and the head closed up and became a rod once more. He then pushed another button and the rod's red head changed in color to blue. He then opened the rod's head to unleash a blast of ice in order to try and freeze Link solid, but it was then that he realized that he had fed too much fire to Link's shield. The pulsing and chime quickened and rose in pitch and was soon unleashed back upon the villain, not as an explosion, but as a beam of fire directed right at the villain.

Having little time to act, Fallen Link quickly unleashed a stream of ice Link's way, hoping to counter the fire beam and also manage to freeze Link solid, for he could easily direct the stream downward to freeze the ground around the hero, if not indirectly freeze him in a similar fashion. The stream of ice collided with the beam of fire and there was an explosion of steam in the center of the room as the icy magic and snow were instantly evaporated by the intense flame being reflected back at Fallen Link. The steam obscured the combatants' vision of each other and, causing them to assume defensive postures, anticipating attacks from the other.

Link was the first to launch an attack, the hero drawing out his bow and notching an arrow to its string. Drawing back on his string, he let fly with an arrow, not intending to hit the villain, but to at least keep him pinned so that he would not launch another wave of magic his way, for he was quite aware of the potential for the Magic Rod to freeze the ground and cause the floor to become much more slippery. He fired arrow after arrow, hoping that Fallen Link would either be pinned or be too focused on defense to launch another magical attack. After a few seconds, he could see the steam beginning to thin and he thought that he could see a light in the steam. He also began to hear a droning sound come from the other side of the steam. After a few more seconds, the steam cleared and he spotted Fallen Link, a blue crystal barrier having formed over his body. The villain grinned.

"Nayru's Love," he explained with a cocky grin. "It's one of the Goddess Spells. It makes me immune to damage. Its only drawback is that it uses a lot of magic, but that's not too much of a problem for me at the moment."

Link outwardly grimaced but inwardly, he smirked. The villain was overconfident. Still, he did not want to face down an invincible opponent without having an edge of his own. To that end, he quickly drew out a Bomb Arrow and notched it to his bowstring. Fallen Link raised his sword high and began to rush towards the hero, intending to bring the sword down upon the hero's head, for while he was now invincible, the spell also prevented him from using any of his other spells or items that relied on magic, though he still had access to his Sword Beams.

After the Bomb Arrow was lit, Link drew back on his bowstring and targeted the onrushing villain. When he had drawn a positive bead, a feat made pretty easy since Fallen Link was doing nothing to make himself difficult to hit, he let fly with his arrow. The Bomb Arrow struck the Nayru's Love barrier right over Fallen Link's chest. While the barrier stopped the explosive concussion from inflicting any injury to Fallen Link, it did not stop the force of the explosion from sending him flying through the air. He crashed into the ground a few feet away and slowly rose, shaking his head. He was then hit by another Bomb Arrow, which sent him flying again. He crashed into the ground a few feet away once more but was quicker to rise this time. He saw Link drawing back on his bowstring and he quickly went evasive, retreating from the hero while zigzagging back and forth to make himself harder to hit. Link fired his Bomb Arrow and Fallen Link quickly crouched and raised his shield to brace himself against the explosion. The Nayru's Love barrier caught the explosion and the villain was sent skidding backwards but was able to maintain his footing.

Once he had gotten some distance between himself and Link, he held out the Four Sword. The sword began to glow and Link put away his bow and drew the Master Sword, ready to intercept whatever was going to come at him. However, something soon happened that Link did not expect. Fallen Link began to glow, Link's eyes going wide with surprise. Since the Nayru's Love barrier was still up, he did not want to rush into a fight with the villain. Soon, the glowing villain split into four different figures. Once the glow died, instead of one Fallen Link, now four Fallen Link's stood in his place in a diamond formation. In the front was the Fallen Link with a green tunic. To his right and rear was Red Link, to his left and rear was Blue Link, and directly to his rear was Purple Link. It was clear that Green Link was the leader and original Fallen Link, though. All of the Fallen Links grinned at the Hero of Twilight Link.

"So, whatcha gonna do now, hero?" all four Fallen Link's asked in unison in a condescending voice. "It's four-on-one now."

Link gave no reaction as he raised his sword and shield, ready to take whatever they threw at him. The villains grimaced as he gave no reaction but did not let his courage in the face of the threat they posed get to them. They outnumbered him and they had magic whereas he did not. It was their fight to lose; and they were going to make sure that they did not lose.

Meanwhile, evil Zelda faced off against her younger cousin and Midna. Taking stock of her opponents, she gave a cocky grin and laughed. "You fools think you have the power and skills to beat me?" she mocked.

"Both you and your lover had trouble against me in our last fight," Midna warned, her lips twisting into a menacing smile of her own.

Evil Zelda grimaced as she then extended her hands and unleashed a small ball of flame the former Twili Queen's way. Midna raised a shield to intercept the ball but the young Zelda used her magic to pull Midna away from the ball of flame and closer towards her.

"What are you doing?" Midna demanded.

"Look," Zelda answered, pointing towards the ball.

Midna looked over at it and saw it change direction and then disappear a few feet away from her. She and Zelda then scrambled back a few feet as there was a sudden explosion of fire. Suddenly, Midna realized why Zelda had pulled her away. The ball of flame was able to phase through shields and matter and explode inside its target. It was a highly dangerous spell that would likely even affect those that were otherwise fireproof.

"Thanks for the save," Midna said, glancing back at Zelda. "I owe you one."

"We're even," Zelda replied. "You already saved me from the Spirit Barrier."

"Any other spells I should know about that your cousin may not have used?"

Zelda nodded. "Her Nayru's Love will reflect enemy attacks back at their source and she can use Farore's Wind to teleport either short or long distances without requiring a warp point."

"So she has better versions of the crystal spells," Midna stated, seeking confirmation.

Zelda nodded. "Along with some others. Expect to face off against Light spells as well as other elemental spells."

"Got it."

Midna then decided to test the evil Zelda's defenses. She extended her hand and a ball of Twilight Magic formed in front of it. This prompted the evil Zelda to grin as she assumed a defensive posture, anticipating Midna's attack. Midna promptly unleashed the ball of Twilight Magic, propelling it towards the evil princess. Just as she had expected, Princess Zelda raised a Nayru's Love barrier that spun around her body. As it formed and spun, it reflected the magical ball of Twilight energy back at Midna. The ball splashed against Midna's shield but did not inflict any damage. Still, the evil Zelda grinned. "Is that all you've got?" she mocked.

What she did not see was her younger cousin moving behind her in order to catch her off guard with an attack of her own. Even though she did not have a sword, knife, or other weapon, she could still power a quick spell when needed. And Zelda was familiar with all of her older cousin's abilities, so she knew exactly what the strengths and weaknesses of her version of Nayru's Love. This version was not permanent so there would be a second or so of vulnerability before the evil Zelda could raise another Nayru's Love shield or other type of defense. Sure enough, right when the barrier disappeared, Young Zelda unleashed a vicious blast of Light magic right at her older cousin. The Light Beams, as she called them, scored direct hits on Princess Zelda and knocked her forward a few steps, forcing the princess to focus on maintaining her footing, rather than attacking or mounting another defense. Still, Princess Zelda's own magical defenses and the Triforce of Wisdom allowed her to survive what would otherwise have been fatal attacks and she was far from finished. However, the attacks dazed her enough that she could not mount an effective defense against Midna's ball of Twilight Magic. The ball rocketed forth from the former Twilight Queen's hand and scored a direct hit on Zelda's chest, knocking her backwards through the air and onto her back, where she skidded a few feet. The two heroes were about to launch more attacks to inflict further damage, if not finish off, the princess when she promptly vanished from sight. She reappeared about a dozen meters away, raising a shield spell over herself. It was clear, though, that this was not a Nayru's Love barrier, which meant that she would be able to use other magic.

"This isn't fair, it's two-on-one," she mock-whined with a frown. "But make no mistake, despite my disadvantage, I'll still beat the two of you no problem. You don't have a piece of the Triforce and you are younger than me," she finished, focusing on Zelda. "And the older fighter always beats the younger one eventually. Just ask your friend, Link. Oh, that's right. You can't. He's dead!"

"And you'll pay for that," Zelda retorted. "You'll pay for all the innocents you have killed."

"How?" Princess Zelda mocked. "You're no match for me. You'll fall just as your boyfriend did. Yeah, I know that despite your youth, the two of you were more than just friends, even if it wasn't romantic just yet." She then gave a laugh and focused her gaze on Zelda. "And now, it's time for you to die."

While Princess Zelda was talking, Midna was growing impatient and powered another ball of Twilight Magic. She then propelled the ball towards the cocky princess, catching her completely off guard. The ball plowed into Princess Zelda and sent her flying through the air. She crashed into the floor on her back and skidded along the ground, coming to a stop a few feet away. She was slow to rise as another ball of Twilight Magic came her way. She tried to dodge it but was unsuccessful and was sent flying through the air again. This time, though, she landed on her head and was dazed by the impact.

"Damn," she muttered to herself. "This Dark Woman is still as strong as ever."

Young Zelda then joined in on the action as she fired a series of Light Beams the princess's way. The princess was able to see her younger cousin raise her hands so she was able to mount a defense in the form of a magical shield. However, it was merely a normal shield and Young Zelda's Light Beams were also shield breakers. The first one broke down Princess Zelda's shield while the second one scored a direct hit on the princess. Princess Zelda cried out in pain as the Light Beam struck her squarely in the chest, burning her dress, the only thing keeping the beam from burning a hole straight through her chest being her increased magical defenses, which were becoming more and more ragged as the fight, or slaughter as it seemed to her, drew on. She knew that she had to do something fast. She would not last much longer against both Midna and Young Zelda. She quickly turned and looked over at Link to see how he was doing and found that he was having troubles of his own and that the only thing keeping him alive at the moment was his Nayru's Love barrier. A look of dread crossed her face. Things were looking bad.

Back over where the four Fallen Links were facing off against the Hero of Twilight Link, the villains surrounded the hero, protected by their Nayru's Love barriers. While they could not use any other magical spells while he used Nayru's Love, though they still had their Sword Beams, which they were quick to use against Link. The hero, however, was ready for it and the Sword Beams were not particularly fast or difficult to intercept. He merely performed a Great Spin Attack to unleash a wave of energy in all directions. The wave deflected the Sword Beams with no effort and would have bisected the Fallen Links had they not been protected by the Nayru's Love barriers. The Links grimaced. The hero was proving to be quite difficult to take down. This was the third time they had tried using Sword Beams to kill him. They quickly realized that they would need to use more powerful magic in order to defeat him, though that would preclude the use of Nayru's Love. Still, their defensive strategy was failing so all they could do was try to engage the hero in close combat until the shield wore off.

The quartet closed in on the hero, holding their swords high, and attempted to bring their swords down upon him. Link was too fast, though, and managed to intercept two of the Links' attacks with his shield while he sidestepped another slash and caught the fourth one on the Master Sword. He did not bother to counterattack while the Nayru's Love barrier was up, so he simply retreated, doing his best to make sure that all four Fallen Links were kept in front of him. That way, he could either scatter them with Bomb Arrows, or at least force their attack to come from one direction, where he could escape damage far more easily.

The hero decided to go with Bomb Arrows, drawing one out from his quiver. After notching it to his bow and pulling back on the string, he aimed for the feet of the four Fallen Links and let fly with his explosive arrow. The arrow struck the ground and detonated, the explosion sending the four Fallen Links flying in all directions. They crashed into the ground but the barriers prevented them from suffering any damage. Still, the impacts must have dazed them, for they were slow to get up. Eventually, though, they did rise and the moment they did so, their Nayru's Love barriers vanished, making them vulnerable to attack once more, but also giving them far more options in terms of using offensive magic.

They quickly went on the offensive by splitting up so that they surrounded the hero. They then drew their Magic Rods and set them to launch fire attacks. Link, knowing that there was no way he would be able to defend himself against four fire attacks, quickly put on his Magic Armor so he could intercept the attacks. The Fallen Links unleashed massive blasts of fire at Link, curious about his new armor but not really being all that concerned about it since he was about to be incinerated by their streams of flame. The flames washed over Link and he could hear the ring of Rupees disappearing as the Magic Armor protected him from the flames. The Fallen Links, however, were grinning as they closed in on the hero, expecting him to be reduced to ashes. Link gave our a cry feigning pain and suffering as he made out like he was flailing in agony, trying to draw in the Fallen Links so that he could take them all down with a single Great Spin attack. The Fallen Links eagerly took the bait, laughing as they closed in on the hero.

"How's it feel to be burned alive hero?" they mocked. "This is what you get for murdering my daughter."

Link continued to flail and keeled over, feigning pain. The Fallen Links quickly converged on him and were merely a single foot away. This was too easy. They raised their swords high in the air and prepared to bring them down on the head of the burning hero. Just before Link performed his Great Spin, they noticed something off about the hero when he showed no signs of injury. The fact that he may have been feigning suffering damage did not register until he performed the Great Spin, the Master Sword unleashing a massive wave of energy as Link spun around. The sword, itself, was strong enough to cut through the clothing and skin of the Fallen Links, practically bisecting them. The wave of energy unleashed merely made their fate all that much more certain.

The three Fallen Link clones promptly vanished as soon as they sustained fatal damage, but the fourth Fallen Link, the one on the green tunic, did not disappear. He simply fell backwards with a large cut across his chest that almost separated his upper chest and head from the lower part of his body. He hit the floor with a thud and was motionless, dropping his sword in the process. Link then took off his Magic Armor, wanting to conserve his Rupees for whenever he faced off against King Nohansen. After taking off his armor he was about to go over and take the Four Sword when he saw a pink glowing dot with translucent wings rise from the fallen villain and begin to orbit him. As he did so, there was a rising chime as Link instantly recognized the fact that the fairy was reviving the fallen villain. Fallen Link quickly grabbed the Four Sword once more and rose to face the hero once more, grinning.

"Didn't expect that, did you hero?" Fallen Link asked with a grin. "I had a leftover fairy from my last fight against that young hero and then the Dark Woman. Let's see how you handle me now that I'm fresh once more and know your tricks."

He then raised his shield over his chest and swiped his sword at Link to fire off some more Sword Beams. Link, however, raised his Mirror Shield to intercept the beams and send them back at Fallen Link, forcing him to raise his own shield to block them. While he was intercepting his own reflected attacks, Link drew out his bow and took out an Ice Arrow. Pulling back on his bowstring, he drew a bead on Fallen Link and fired off the arrow. The arrow came too quickly for Fallen Link to summon a Nayru's Love barrier or other active defense, so all he could do was raise his shield and hope that it was enough to not be frozen. It was not, though, and the moment the arrows truck the shield, the icy crystal exploded and icy energy formed over the villain. His enhanced defenses managed to keep the freezing temperatures from instantly killing him but it did little to defrost him.

Link, seeing his chance to take down the villain once and for all, put away his sword and shield and quickly drew out the Megaton Hammer, wanting to shatter the villain before he defrosted. He rushed to reach the villain to end his threat, but the ice shattered moments before he reached the villain and Fallen Link was able to move. Still, it was not enough to prevent him from taking a hit from the Megaton Hammer. While he had managed to raise his shield enough to intercept the hammer and prevent his skull from being shattered, he still took a significant blow to the shield arm and gave a cry as the shield was dented and his bones broke from the impact. A second strike then sent him sailing across the room, crashing into the ground in a heap. He slowly rose and looked over at Link, who was approaching him cautiously, not wanting to be drawn into a trap as he had done to the villain moments earlier. Fallen Link slowly rose and, looking over at Princess Zelda, called, "I could use some help here!" While he was loathe to admit that he needed help taking down what was basically his counterpart, he knew that this was a losing fight and that he could not defeat the Hero of Twilight on his own. He knew that things were even worse when he heard Princess Zelda give her response.

"I've got problems of my own," she cried in answer to his plea for help.

That was not what he wanted to hear. He saw his lover look at him as he clutched his arm and dented shield with his sword hand after sheathing his blade. She looked at him in horror. This was the last thing she needed, especially since she was already losing to Midna and Young Zelda. It was obvious that the situation here was untenable. She quickly teleported over to her injured lover, saying, "It's no good. We can't beat them without help. We have to flee."

Link did not want to hear that but he knew as well as she did that they were in trouble. Looking over at Link, he saw Midna and Young Zelda rejoin him. There was no way that the two of them could face that force. Even with Nayru's Love, he would not win, especially since Zelda knew the royal version of Din's Fire, which could pierce even the so-called perfect shield of Nayru's Love. Link then nodded, letting Princess Zelda know that she was right and that he was ready to go.

First, Zelda cast a healing spell on her lover. He felt a wave of refreshment wash over him as his bones knitted and healed and even the dent in his shield was repaired. Next, he ran over to Zelda as she raised her hands. A green ball of light immediately formed over her head and Link, Zelda, and Midna immediately knew what was happening. Fallen Link and Princess Zelda were fleeing the scene. They would not let their enemies leave that easily. They quickly rushed over to them and were scant feet away as the duo was whisked away in the Farore's Wind spell. However, the warp point did not immediately disappear. It proceeded to shrink, though, but there was still a chance for the trio to follow Fallen Link and Princess Zelda. The trio lunged towards the warp point and managed to enter it just before it closed.

The trio fell out of the magical warp and hit the ground, Link curling up and rolling before rising to a fighter's stance while Zelda and Midna simply crashed onto a dirt floor. Both were slow to rise but they did not appear to suffer any real injury. Looking around, the trio found that they were in the middle of a town, for there was a building not too far away that looked like it could have either been a castle or a school of some sort. There were other buildings scattered across the lush, green landscape. It looked far different even from Hyrule before the flood. It was completely unfamiliar to him. For a second, he wondered if they had been taken to this Mushroom Kingdom that he had heard mentioned on occasion. He looked ahead to find Princess Zelda and Fallen Link standing not too far away from them. They looked to be making their way to a bench near what looked to have once been a business of some sort to rest when they stopped and turned around. Their eyes went wide with shock as they saw Link, Midna, and Young Zelda standing before them, ready for battle.

"What the…? How did you get here?" Princess Zelda gasped.

"They must have followed us through the warp before it closed," Fallen Link concluded.

Princess Zelda grimaced. "So they followed us to Skyloft," she stated flatly.

Things were going from bad to worse. Skyloft was their refuge and a place where they could recharge and rearm. With the heroes having followed them there immediately, they were forced to continue the battle without being able to catch their breaths. They were in no condition to fight Link and his allies.

Just as they thought that all hope had failed, there was a brilliant flash of light that forced everyone present to cover their eyes. Link and his friends backed away a few steps while still shielding their eyes. Link had a bad feeling about what was happening. As for Fallen Link and Princess Zelda, they were quick to notice their Triforce marks glowing, indicating the presence of another piece of the Triforce. That only meant one thing. King Nohansen was there. Their supposition was quickly confirmed when the light dimmed and standing in the middle of the town square.

The first thing the king did was turn back to see his daughter and her lover come towards him. "Father," Princess Zelda began, genuflecting before him.

"King Nohansen, sire," Fallen Link echoed, genuflecting as well.

The king looked down at them and grimaced. "You disappoint me. You could not defeat an upstart hero, the Dark Woman, and your cousin. And you did so well in the rebellion."

"This Link is different," Fallen Link stated.

"He has no magic," King Nohansen countered harshly.

"But he has magical items and armor," Link reiterated.

King Nohansen could only let out a small grumble of dissatisfaction. He then turned around to see Link, Midna, and Young Zelda assume fighter's stances, with Link drawing the Master Sword and Mirror Shield. The Triforce of Power glowed in the king's hand as he raised it and summoned a sword into his hand. It was a shiny sword that had a field of golden energy surrounding it. Fallen Link and Zelda then felt waves of refreshing energy wash over them. They formed up behind the king, the group forming a triangle formation. Their formation was mirrored by Link's allies, with Link leading the fight, holding out the Master Sword. The final fight for Hyrule's fate was about to begin.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29:

King Nohansen held his sword high as he prepared to unleash his wrath upon Link, Zelda, and Midna. He pointed his sword at Link and it unleashed a series of golden sword beams that were almost certainly laced with the power of the Triforce of Power. Seeing that his Mirror Shield might not hold against the power of a piece of the Triforce, Link countered by swinging the Master Sword to bat back the sword beams at King Nohansen as well as at Fallen Link and Princess Zelda. The evil princess and Fallen Link took this opportunity to prepare attacks on Link, Fallen Link drawing out his Magic Rod and Princess Zelda preparing an Ice spell. Young Zelda and Midna immediately formed up around Link to protect him, unleashing spells of their own. Midna unleashed two beams of Twilight Magic on Fallen Link's blast of fire magic while Young Zelda countered Princess Zelda's Ice spell with a Fire spell. The young girl's Fire spell easily overpowered the Ice spell, melting the Ice magic and streaming towards Princess Zelda, forcing her to raise an Ice shield in order to blunt the blow, which it did. Still, the Ice shield collapsed and Princess Zelda had to be careful to avoid the falling ice shards. Staring at her younger cousin, she gritted her teeth, seething at the fact that the girl had gotten the better part of the exchange. And it looked to her as if Young Zelda had not come anywhere close to breaking a sweat.

As for Midna, her magic clashed with Fallen Link's fire spell, which was large enough to incinerate a giant, and was holding steady against it, despite her own Twilight blasts only being the width of her hands. Fallen Link struggled to push the required magic into his attack to try to push back Midna's Twilight blasts but when he did so, his fire blast began to slowly push back the Twilight blasts. Midna would have none of that, though, and she pushed more power into her own magical blasts. The advance of Link's flame promptly ceased and he was back on the defensive as he attempted to keep her blasts from annihilating him. However, try as he might, Midna was just too powerful and her blasts were overwhelming his fire stream. Seeing no choice, he dove to his left in order to avoid the Twilight blasts and his own flame attack coming back at him. While he was successful in avoiding the attack, he was also quick to realize that he had pushed a lot of magic into that attack while Midna was not even close to breaking a sweat.

As for Link, he was holding his own against King Nohansen quite well. He deflected all of the king's attacks back at him, forcing him to raise a magical shield in order to protect himself. After the last blast struck his shield, collapsing it in the process, he took a step back and assessed the situation. With his abilities, he had seen the outcome of the other two clashes, each one ending in defeat for his allies. He grimaced at the turn of events. These heroes were strong, but then again, so was he. He had more than enough power at his disposal to defeat the three upstarts standing in front of him. Still, there was something that troubled him; and it wasn't Link's Master Sword. He had faced the Master Sword in the hands of a hero before and had emerged victorious. There was something different about these heroes. They were skilled, but they were also wise and cunning. They would be difficult to beat. He needed to plan things very carefully if he was to emerge from this fight victorious.

To that end, he called his daughter and her lover over to him and told them his plan. "These fighters are very dangerous," he began. "They have shown themselves to be able to defeat us if we are not careful. As such, we must formulate a plan in order to defeat them. Fortunately, I have already done so. We must face off against enemies that we are strong against. As such Link," Fallen Link immediately turned to face him, "you are to face your counterpart. Your magic should give you an edge in a swordfight. Zelda," the princess instantly turned to him and awaited his instruction, "you are to face down your cousin. She may have overpowered your Ice spell but she used an elemental spell that had an advantage against ice. If you face her with neutral spells, you will prevail because you are both older than she is and because you have the Triforce of Wisdom. As for me, I will face the Dark Woman. I am already familiar with her fighting style and my Triforce of Power can overwhelm her dark relics."

"Right," the two younger fighters said in unison.

"Very well, then go!" the king commanded.

Zelda then turned and rushed towards her younger cousin. "You're mine, bitch," she mocked, grinning, prompting the younger girl to echo her own grin.

Fallen Link then went to face down the Hero of Twilight Link. "I'm gonna make you suffer for what you did to Tetra."

"Tetra's fate was her own doing," Link answered as he readied himself for the next round in his fight against his evil counterpart.

As for King Nohansen, he stepped forward to face down Midna, who was already focusing her attention on him. "So we meet again, Dark Woman," he proclaimed. "This time, I will finish the fight and destroy you."

"That remains to be seen," Midna replied. "After all, our last fight was inconclusive at best for you." She then grinned, trying to put him ill at ease. It failed, but that did not matter to her very much. She already knew how he fought and while he was aware of her Fused Shadow transformation, he did not know that she was already familiar with the Triforce of Power and had faced someone with it before him. And Ganondorf had proven to be a far superior wielder of the relic than King Nohansen. The outcome of this battle was far from certain. It was then that the two trios faced off against each other.

Link began the fight against his villainous counterpart by drawing his bow and an Ice Arrow. Pulling back on the bowstring to activate the arrow, he then let fly with the arrow, hoping that Fallen Link would be foolish and try to block the arrow with his shield. The villain had learned his lesson from the previous attack and was careful to avoid the arrow, allowing it to sail by him and strike the ground over two dozen meters away. The explosion of ice covered a five meter radius of stone, giving Link an idea. He promptly drew another Ice Arrow, prompting Fallen Link to laugh.

"Seriously?" he said with a shrug. "You can't expect things to be any different. You won't get me again with that trick."

What Fallen Link did not realize was that Link was not going for him. He tilted his bow down as he pulled back on his string to activate the Ice Arrow. He then let fly with the arrow and the arrow struck the ground a couple of feet in front of the villain. Only when the arrow exploded and ice began to spread along the ground did Fallen Link realize what Link's plan had been.

"Oh crap," he swore as he tried to jump back and evade the expanding ring of ice. However, he was too slow and ice had managed to catch his right foot and was already spreading up his leg up to about his knee. It also reached his left foot and traveled up his left leg to about half way up the lower half of his leg. Try as he might, he was unable to move. All he could do was cast Nayru's Love in order to keep Link's next arrow from killing him. He did so and the crystal formed over his body, protecting him from Link's attacks. However, Link was not troubled. Fallen Link seemed to have a limited amount of magic available to him and he had a feeling that the villain was burning through a great deal of it. Any magic that he could force him to use here would be magic that he could not use to power a spell from his Magic Rod or any other attack item. Now, all he could do was wait while Fallen Link tried to free himself. However, Fallen Link was not without options.

The villain quickly drew out his own bow and notched an arrow to the string. This was Link's cue to bring out his Hylian Shield. As he raised it, the villain let fly with his arrow. The arrow struck Link's shield and bounced off of it, not even scratching the surface of the shield. Fallen Link quickly notched more arrows to his bow and fired them one after the other, each of them unable to pierce Link's Hylian Shield.

Seeing that he was having no success with his arrows, Fallen Link pulled at his leg to try to free himself from the ice, not only so that he would be able to move but also so that his leg would not get frostbite. This was when his Nayru's Love barrier actually hurt him, for he could not use his arrows or sword to chip away at the ice while the lower parts of his legs were beginning to freeze. He cringed as he watched Link focus his attention on him while he waited for the Nayru's Love barrier to fall so he could strike, Link was already preparing another Ice Arrow to either freeze him or keep him immobilized for when the barrier fell. Much to Fallen Link's surprise, though, Link fired the arrow at the base of the crystal. He only realized why the hero did so when he saw the ice encase his feet and rise to encase some of the barrier as well. That was when the villain's heart sank. He knew that he was in trouble now, for the moment the barrier fell, he would likely be immobilized enough that Link would be able to encase him in ice with his next Ice Arrow. All he could do now was wait for the inevitable to happen.

Meanwhile, Princess Zelda was faring just as poorly against her cousin as Fallen Link was against Link. Princess Zelda had attempted to unleash a ball of Din's Fire on Young Zelda, but the younger girl merely teleported a few meters away from her previous location, allowing the spell to detonate harmlessly. She then retaliated with two beams of light from her hands. Princess Zelda was ready for a counterattack, though, and had erected a magical shield over her body, though it was not Nayru's Love since she still wanted to have access to her other spells and not burn through a great deal of magic at the moment. She grinned as the beams of light bounced off of the shield.

"Well brat, whatcha gonna do now?" she mocked.

Young Zelda was not bothered by the recent turn of events. She did not even feel the need to shift her tactics, for she had many other magical options. She soon stooped down and curled her right hand into a fist. She then punched the ground and the ground between her and Princess Zelda began to shake. The shaking threw Princess Zelda off balance and she stumbled forward, doing her best to maintain her balance. What was worse was that she could feel waves of energy washing over her and she knew that they were inflicting damage to her as her chest and stomach began to ache. As she was stumbling around, it was notable that the ground near Link and Midna was not shaking at all and they were able to continue their battles. She tried to move but she then keeled over in agony as the pain in her stomach and chest became unbearable. Not only that, but her legs also began to hurt, as if she had just been kicked in the shins. The waves of agony caused her to cry out and fall to the ground as it continued to shake and more energy was washing over her and inflicting more damage to her. Now it was her face and head that were hurting, as of she had just taken a punch from a brawler that should have knocked her teeth out. The damage inflicted by the Earthquake spell and the energy emitted from seemed to be increasing exponentially with each passing second. If she did not stop this soon, she would die, for she could feel the spell wreaking havoc on her internal organs.

She immediately cast a healing spell on herself and was able to stop the damage from increasing. Then, slowly but surely, she felt a wave of refreshment wash over her and she felt the pain in her chest and stomach decreasing. Soon, the pain subsided from the rest of her body and she could rise and walk, as well as think, once more. Still, her chest and stomach were sore, as were her arms, meaning that she had not fully recovered from the Earthquake. While she wanted to cast a more effective shield spell over herself, she knew that if she did so, her attack options would be limited, and if her upstart namesake knew her version of Din's Fire, she could be incinerated from inside the shield and instantly killed. As such, she merely reinforced her own normal shield and continued to use a healing spell to try and heal as much of the damage as possible. Young Zelda was not going to make it easy, though.

The young girl immediately launched a ball of water that was about eight feet in diameter, enough to engulf Princess Zelda, her way. The princess held out her hand to catch the ball and of water and send it back at the girl, but the moment it touched her hand, it expanded and surrounded the princess, engulfing her. Now, Princess Zelda was trapped inside a massive ball of water. Her shield would be useless in getting her air. The only good thing was that she had several ways to try to counter this latest setback.

The first thing she tried was to use fire to try to evaporate the water. This proved to be a huge mistake, for all it did was make the water much hotter and begin to burn her, causing her to let out an underwater scream. Young Zelda barely suppressed her laughter at her older cousin's seeming stupidity. She was suddenly wondering how the older Zelda had managed to become so dangerous and powerful in the first place. She then added her own fire to Princess Zelda's fire, superheating the water to the point where it was boiling, ignoring her initial plan of freezing the water into a block of ice and shattering it, along with Princess Zelda. The princess immediately ceased casting her fire spell and then cast an ice spell, hoping that she could cool down the water before she was boiled alive. Despite the power of the Ice spell, though, it was insufficient to cool the water to the point where she would survive long enough to even drown and it did nothing to ease the pain she was feeling. All Princess Zelda could do was scream. However, she was not willing to surrender just yet. She still had one option. With nothing left to lose, Princess Zelda decided to use Farore's Wind to try and teleport out of the ball of water. She cast the spell, barely managing to raise her burning hands above her head and cast the spell. The green ball of light formed over her head and then expanded to engulf her and she disappeared from the ball of water, which promptly collapsed onto the ground as soon as she had vanished from it.

Princess Zelda reappeared almost ten meters away from where the ball had been. When she reappeared the small amount of water that was still on her dripped off of her, though that was small comfort to the princess as she had still been horribly scalded by the boiling water. She quickly fell to her knees in pain, struggling to cast a healing spell to heal the damage that had been inflicted. Just as with the Earthquake spell, which had inflicted severe internal damage to her, the damage to her skin was not fully healed by her first healing spell and Young Zelda was not going to give her a chance to cast another one. She quickly unleashed a blizzard of ice the princess's way and the older Zelda was forced to go evasive and fire off a series of non-elemental magical bolts to try to force the younger Zelda to go evasive. The younger Zelda, however, merely raised a reflective Nayru's Love barrier and reflected the magical bolts back at the princess, each bolt slamming into her body. Had her own natural magical defenses not been so great, the bolts would have drilled massive holes into her body. As it was, though, they merely inflicted small burns and non-lethal furrows that were instantly cauterized by the heat. Still, things were looking grim for the princess, for she was using a great deal of magic at a blistering pace while her younger cousin looked to be barely breaking a sweat. It was as if it was Young Zelda with the Triforce of Wisdom, rather than the older one. It was only the Triforce of Wisdom and the magical ability that it granted that was keeping the older Zelda alive. She gritted her teeth in anger but still backed away from the younger girl as she approached, desperately trying to come up with a plan to turn this fight around, for if this fight continued on its current path, she may very well lose. Still, she _did_ have the Triforce of Wisdom, and her flaw in the beginning of the fight was that she had underestimated her cousin. Now, she knew what her cousin was capable of and it was time to turn this fight around.

As for King Nohansen and his fight against Midna, he was faring a little better than the other two had been against their opponents, but Midna was still getting the better part of the exchange. King Nohansen had begun the fight against Midna by charging her with blinding speed, using the power of the Triforce of Power to great effect, and thrusting his sword right at her throat. The former Twilight Queen only avoided the thrust by disappearing and teleporting right behind the king. King Nohansen sensed her reappearance, though, and quickly reversed his grip on the sword and thrust it backwards. However, in the time it took to reverse his grip and thrust his sword backwards, Midna had already moved out of the way. She then powered a ball of Twilight magic and launched it at the king at point blank range. The ball struck the king in the back and knocked him forward a few steps, but other than that, it did not inflict any real damage.

King Nohansen retaliated by turning around and quickly pointing his sword at Midna. He then unleashed a golden lance of light from the sword that struck the former Twilight Queen squarely in the chest. The blast lifted Midna off her feet and sent her flying towards a wall. However, before she collided with the wall, she disappeared from sight, surprising the king but instantly putting him on guard. He magically raised his defenses, scanning the entire arena for the Twili, expecting her to reappear close to him in order to launch an attack, or possibly even strike from behind. Surprisingly, she did not do as he had expected, for she was nowhere to be seen. He thrust his sword behind him, expecting her to be behind him, but his sword struck nothing but air. As he scanned the atrium he spotted his daughter and her lover in their battles against their opponents, wondering if Midna was going to assist one of her friends, but he quickly found that her friends were more than holding their own against Princess Zelda and Fallen Link. They did not need her help at all. He then used the power of the Triforce of Power to try to find her, assuming her to be invisible. Surprisingly, though, even with the power of the relic, he was unable to find her. For a fleeting moment, he wondered if the former Twilight Queen had become intangible. He had not remembered that as being one of her powers, but he would not have put it past her. He then went about adjusting the parameters of his search when he felt something coming from behind.

Midna suddenly appeared behind the king and unleashed several beams of light at him. At this close range, the king was unable to mount an effective defense and had to rely on the defenses that were already up. The first beam was absorbed by his defenses and inflicted no damage whatsoever to him. The second and third began to batter down his defenses but still inflicted no damage. The fourth one, however, managed to pierce what was left of his defenses and burned a small hole in his armor. It was not enough to injure the king, but the beam still managed to burn part of his skin and hurt him. The pain was shocking to the king, for he had never felt real pain since he had acquired the power of the Triforce piece in his hand.

"Damn," he muttered as he backed away, reinforcing his defenses in preparation for his own counterattack of the Twili sorceress. "That hurt."

As for the king, despite the slight damage inflicted by the attack, he still had plenty of options available to him. The Dark Woman was not a swordfighter and did not have any secondary weaponry besides her magic, which he knew he could wear down if he forced her to use enough of it. He began his next offensive by holding up his sword, the golden energy field surrounding it emitting a blinding flash of light as its power doubled. He then fired a series of blasts at the former Twilight Queen, but she managed to erect a shield of Light around her, causing the blasts of light to bounce off of it. King Nohansen then charged Midna to try to behead her, but she was too quick for him. She instantly turned intangible and the sword passed right through her, striking nothing but air. She just as quickly became tangible once more and unleashed a ball of Light magic that the king did not know she knew how to use. The ball collided with the king and exploded, sending him skidding backwards. Only the magical shield that he had raised while charging the woman prevented the ball of light from annihilating him on impact. Even though it was not fatal, it still damaged his shield and made him more vulnerable to her other attacks. However, he was not about to let her unleash another attack on him.

King Nohansen quickly went back on the offensive, unleashing a massive barrage of fireballs at the Twili woman. The fireballs struck the Twili woman's shield, causing it to flare with each hit, but it did little to pierce it and by the time the barrage was finished, Midna's shield still stood. However, King Nohansen was not deterred. His next attack was to thrust his sword forward and fire off a lance of golden energy. Feeling that this lance had special properties behind it, likely either shield-breaking or shield-piercing properties, she attempted to duck out of the way. Unfortunately, she was too slow and the lance managed to strike her shield. Her shield instantly fell upon the lance making contact with it, but other than the shield falling, she suffered no actual damage. Still, she was now vulnerable to King Nohansen's other attacks, which the king took full advantage of.

The King of Hyrule quickly initiated a new series of attacks, conjuring a massive snowball in front of his hand. He then propelled it towards the former Twilight Queen, hoping that it would roll over her and either crush her or encase her in snow, allowing him to freeze her and then shatter her. Midna did not cooperate, though, quickly going intangible and allowing the snowball to pass right through her. King Nohansen gritted his teeth and conjured two balls of golden energy in his hands, a gift for the Twili woman when she became tangible once more.

After a few seconds, Midna became tangible once more, which was Nohansen's cue to fire on her. However, the instant the Twili woman became tangible, and the King of Hyrule fired the golden balls of magic, Midna teleported away, causing the balls to pass though air once more, each one crashing into the ground several meters past her previous position and detonating, creating holes in the ground that were five meters in diameter and two meters deep. Midna then reappeared on the other side of the town center and unleashed a massive barrage of Twilight magical balls.

King Nohansen sensed the balls coming and erected a Nayru's Love barrier to intercept the balls. However, the balls quickly changed their course and simply began to orbit him. His eyes went wide with dread, for he quickly realized that Midna had guessed his strategy for dealing with her attack. The last thing he had expected was that she could guide her Twilight scattershot. And the problem with his reflective Nayru's Love barrier was that it was only in effect for a very short period of time and that he would not be able to erect a shield over himself to intercept all of the blasts before they converged on him. The best he could do was to increase his magical defenses and hope that they would allow him to survive the assault, for there was no way that he would avoid all, or even most, of the balls.

The moment the Nayru's Love barrier fell, the Twilight scattershot converged on King Nohansen. He curled his arms over his himself and increased his natural magical defenses to hopefully augment his durability against the attacks so that the attack would not be fatal. Each ball came crashing into the body of the king and promptly exploded as if they were shaped charges, the explosions sending energy right towards his body. His defenses were pushed to the limit and strained against the constant onslaught by the Twilight scattershot. And to make matters worse, some of the energy managed to bleed through his defenses and burn his skin. By the time the last of the balls of magic had struck him, his clothing and body were burned, smoking, and disheveled, his once bright white hair now marred with black marks and burnt ends, while his clothing was scarred with burn marks, and cuts. His exposed skin was now red from the heat and damage suffered from the magical onslaught. The king was quick to cast a healing spell, but that would only partially offset the damage he had suffered.

He looked over at Midna in amazement. He had never been taken this far to the brink before. All of his other enemies merely fell before him with little to no effort. Not even the mighty Bowser the Great had his level of power. What was happening here? How could this woman, a woman who despite having artifacts of power was not transformed and did not appear to be using them, be beating him like this? He glanced around the rest of the town center and found that his daughter and her lover were having similar difficulties against their opponents, too. He had to change the situation and fast, for he realized now that one-on-one, he, Princess Zelda, and Fallen Link would lose.

Back over where Fallen Link was engaging the Hero of Twilight Link, the villain was still having incredible difficulty against the hero. He was struggling to pull his leg out of the ice, a task made that much more difficult by the Nayru's Love barrier he had cast over himself to protect himself from being frozen completely solid by Link's Ice Arrows in the first place. Not only that, but several subsequent Ice Arrows fired near the barrier had caused an ice wall to form around the villain, in essence trapping him so that once the barrier fell, he would be vulnerable to being frozen. He had only one chance to give himself a chance to get out of this danger.

He held up the Four Sword and the sword began to glow. After a second, three doppelängers formed around the trapped Fallen Link. They immediately charged towards Link, hoping to engage him in close combat and force him to divert his attention away from the original Fallen Link. Their plan, however, had one major flaw. As they approached, the Nayru's Love barriers that were over them, due to them having been created while Fallen Link had still had the barrier up, vanished and they were vulnerable to a Great Spin. Link quickly drew the Master Sword and performed the attack once more. A wave of energy was emitted by the sword and it cut the doppelgängers in half, instantly dispersing them.

As for Fallen Link, the disappearance of the Nayru's Love barrier was a blessing, for he was finally able to get at the ice that had frozen some of his extremities. He sheathed his sword and drew out the Magic Rod. He then used the rod to fire off a series of weak fireballs, strong enough to melt the ice, but not strong enough to hurt him too badly. The ice melted and Fallen Link was able to move, albeit his legs were still cold and he worried that he may have suffered some frostbite in his feet. He hoped that it was not too extensive, though it must not have been too bad since he was still able to walk. He used the Magic Rod to melt the ice around him and give himself an avenue of escape just as Link had drawn another Ice Arrow and fired. Fallen Link managed to flee from the arrow's path and it sailed past him. He grinned.

"You missed your chance, hero," he gloated. "Now it's my turn. And I won't miss."

He then raised his sword high and charged straight towards the hero, charging the Four Sword and forming three more doppelgängers for the hero to face. Link was ready for this, though, and he held up the Master Sword and his Hylian Shield. The villains were quick to converge on him and he performed a Great Spin just as he had previously. The wave of energy spread out from the Master Sword but the Fallen Links raised their shields and managed to blunt the blow. Even though the blow was blunted, there were still furrows in their tunics with lines of red, indicating that the wave had burned through the tunics and even some skin.

The four Fallen Links still converged on the hero and went to bring their swords down upon the hero while Link had to wait for the Master Sword to charge up again before he could perform another Great Spin. Link was not troubled, though. He had plenty of other Hidden Skills that would be useful in this type of situation. Focusing on the Fallen Link with the red tunic, he jumped over the horizontal slash performed by the evil doppelgänger and flipped, bringing his sword down upon the head of Red Fallen Link, the blade biting into the doppelgänger's flesh, causing the Fallen Link to stumble forward as Link landed behind him, and into a slash performed by Blue Fallen Link. Blue's sword practically bisected Red Fallen Link, causing the doppelgänger to disperse, leaving only three Fallen Link's for the hero to fight.

The other three Fallen Links ignored the death of Red Fallen Link and focused solely on killing the hero. By now, though, the Master Sword had charged up once more and Link was able to perform another Great Spin Attack. Green Fallen Link, the original one, recognized this fact as he noticed a silver spark travel the length of the Master Sword's blade, indicating that it was charged for another Great Spin. He backed away from the hero and raised his shield as the other two Fallen Links converged on the hero, and ran straight into the Great Spin. The wave did not have to destroy the doppelgängers, for the glowing Master Sword was more than sufficient to do so. Since they were so close to Link, though, they were unable to shield the original Fallen Link from the energy wave released by the sword, which plowed right into Fallen Link, leaving a massive rend and burn scar into his shield, cutting the villain along the chest, and knocking his sword away, though he was still able to hold onto the blade despite being knocked off balance. This, however, made him vulnerable to further attack.

Link charged towards Fallen Link and took a swipe at him. The villain raised his damaged shield in order to try to deflect the attack but the damaged shield was unable to hold up to Link's sword. The moment the sword made contact with the Fallen Link's shield, several more cracks formed in the shield and the upper left quarter of the shield went to pieces and fell away from the shield. Fallen Link grimaced and tossed away the now useless metal shield. He seethed as he glared at Link. This was not how the fight was supposed to go. Link had no magic save for those Magic Arrows, which were not even powered by his own magic, but by their own bound magic. He should have been able to run roughshod over Link. Instead, here he was on his last legs with no shield and a severely drained magic supply. Had he not had that one fairy in reserve, he would have already been dead.

Seeing that the fight was drawing down to its conclusion and that he would have to make an all or nothing strike against the hero, he gripped the Four Sword with both hands and focused entirely on Link. He then rushed toward Link, holding the Four Sword high. Link saw the attack coming from a mile away, though, and raised his Hylian Shield in order to intercept it. He thrust his shield forward, not only intercepting the strike, but also knocking Fallen Link off balance, causing him to lose command of his sword. Link then performed a vertical slash on Fallen Link, bringing his sword down on Fallen Link's sword hand. The Master Sword easily severed Fallen Link's left hand cleanly at the wrist, the severed hand falling to the ground and Fallen Link backing away, screaming in agony as he clutched his wrist. Link prepared to finish the fight, but Fallen Link quickly retreated away from him, continuing to cry out in agony, abandoning his hand, the Four Sword, as well as the Triforce of Courage, for the Triforce piece was still glowing in his hand. He went to the other end of the stadium, crying, cursing, and clutching his wrist.

Link went over to it and reached down, touching Fallen Link's severed hand, making sure to grab the Four Sword in the process and toss it far away from the severed hand. When he touched Fallen Link's hand, he felt a wave of energy wash over him as a golden triangle rose from the severed hand of the villain. Link reached out and touched the Triforce of Courage, the Triforce piece not fading into his hand, but continuing to remain visible. He then grabbed it and scanned the rest of the arena to see if any of his friends needed help. He had one piece of the relic and he would only need the other two before he could save Hyrule.

Over at the fight between Midna and King Nohansen, the king of Hyrule already looked to be on his last legs. He was breathing heavily after having unleashed a massive Death Storm, a small ball of magic where the slightest touch was fatal to the opponent, only to have it dispersed by a series of Light beams launched by Midna. While the king could feel that Midna was using up a lot of magical energy in the fight, she still had a great deal of magic left in the tank, while his own magic was beginning to run on empty. He looked down at his right hand and the Triforce mark on it began to glow. While he did not seriously want to consider using the full power of the Triforce of Power and transforming into what could become a hideous beast, he felt as if he had little choice, for Midna was simply too strong for him to beat in a fair fight.

The king saw Midna approaching with a confident smile on her face and then grinned.

"I admit that you are strong. In a normal fight, you would even be my superior. But I have something you don't. I have a power that you can scarcely imagine. You will soon learn the true power of the King of Hyrule!"

With that, he showed her the back of his right hand. The Triforce of Power was glowing in the hand. The glow became brighter and brighter until the king's entire body began to glow a bright gold. Nohansen then began to rise into the air as his body seemed to increase in size. Golden armor formed around his chest, arms, and legs and his face glowed more brightly than the sun.

"This is my true power!" the king cried out in a voice so loud that Midna would not have been surprised if the entirety of Hyrule had heard it. "The power to kill a world!"

She grimaced at the sight of the King of Hyrule in his powered up form. He still looked like a humanoid, but he was glowing a bright golden-white. She knew that in her current form, she had no chance against him. He quickly focused his gaze down upon her and tried to unmake her with his willpower alone. However, the attack was easily telegraphed as lightning crackled around his eyes. She quickly teleported away from the spot where she was standing and an instant after she vanished, cracks seemed to form in reality and the sound like breaking glass was heard as the scene of the stadium vanished and in its place was what looked like a purple vortex. The vortex soon vanished, though, and reality seemed to heal.

The former Twilight Queen reappeared several feet above the scene and smiled as she looked down at the vortex as it disappeared. She had gotten a good gauge of his power and while the king was powerful, he was not skilled in the use of its power, certainly not to the level of Ganondorf, whom she had actually managed to survive, albeit having a piece of the Fused Shadows being crushed in the process. She would need the reconstructed Fused Shadows for her to have a chance against King Nohansen. And while the king was no Ganondorf, he was still powerful. She knew that the Fused Shadows might not be enough for her to take down the king, but she knew that she had no other options.

She closed her eyes and the Fused Shadows materialized in front of her. They then began to orbit her body and then closed around her, forming armor around her body. The moment they closed around her, she was immediately transformed into a large, spider-like beast with a large black Twilight Spear. King Nohansen openly ridiculed Midna's Fused Shadow transformation.

"Ha, ha, ha. Is that all you've got? You'll never be able to defeat me if that is all the power that transformation gives you!"

The king then raised his sword high above his head. Midna retaliated by readying her spear, focusing on the king's head since despite the fact that it now seemed to be made of energy, it was still exposed. A single thrust could inflict significant damage if she managed to get through Nohansen's defenses. King Nohansen then pointed his sword up at Midna and unleashed a massive golden wave of energy her way. The spider-like Midna was forced to thrust her spear downward in order to intercept the attack and hopefully pierce it, allowing her to strike at the king, or at least prevent the wave from inflicting damage on or killing her.

Her spear made contact with the wave of energy and stopped it in its tracks, something that surprised both her and the king. King Nohansen immediately pushed more magic into the wave, hoping to be bolster its strength and allow it to overwhelm Midna's power. Midna would not go down so easily and she called upon more of the Fused Shadows' power in order to counter the energy wave. She also focused on a single point on the wave, knowing that while she could not overwhelm the entire wave, that if she focused on one point, she could hopefully break through and strike at the king.

As she pushed harder against the wave, she could feel an indent begin to form on it and she could feel herself powering through it. Looking down at the king, she saw that she was beginning to push back the wave and make her way towards King Nohansen. King Nohansen could only look up in horror as he saw her powering her way through the wave. How was this possible? How could a portion of the power of the gods be overpowered by relic created by mortals?

The King of Hyrule's mind raced as he tried to come up with counters for Midna as she was powering her way through the wave towards him. There was no way this should have been happening to him. He should not be losing this fight. Still, nothing came to mind and all he could think of doing was adding more power to the wave, hoping that it would be enough to stop Midna. It was not enough, though, as Midna pushed the energy wave right back to the king. Nohansen could see the tip of Midna's spear approaching as the wave was parting around the tip far enough so that none of the wave managed to hit the spider-like Midna. King Nohansen immediately cupped his hands in the hope of being able to focus enough energy on the spear to push it away but it would be too little, too late as the top touched the source of the energy wave and there was a massive explosion of golden light and sound that engulfed both combatants and a cloud of dust rose from the center of the fight, obscuring the two combatants.

After a few seconds, the dust cleared and Midna was seen slowly rising from the ground under her own power, albeit back in her normal humanoid form. When she stood, she took one step forward and stumbled a bit, going back down onto one knee but was able to steady herself and rise again. Looking ahead, she saw King Nohansen simply lay on the ground, his eyes wide with shock as he looked up at Midna.

"How?" he gasped. "How could you manage to defeat me? I had the Triforce of Power?"

"But you didn't know how to use it effectively," Midna answered. "And you're not the first person I've fought who used the relic. Ganondorf used it far better than you did."

The king seethed and struggled to rise once more but was unable to do so. Still, he was not defeated yet.

"Perhaps," he admitted, weakly. "But you're no longer transformed," he added with a grin. "I know what you did. You pushed all of your energy into that last attack on me, but I'm still alive and all of your power is gone meaning that this fight is over."

He then grinned as he managed to his hand towards Midna. A golden ball of energy formed around it and he said, "This is the end."

He was then about to fire the ball of energy on Midna when a lance of dark energy erupted from Midna's hand and speared the king squarely in the chest. His eyes went wide with pain and shock and then, suddenly, were blank as he went limp and fell to the floor. Midna extended her magical senses to see if the king was dead. She could feel his heartbeat get slower and slower until it eventually came to a stop. She then sighed. The King of Hyrule was dead. She then went up to the king to claim the Triforce of Power. She reached down with her hand and touched his own hand. When her hand made contact with his own, there was a bright golden flash and Midna saw a golden triangle rise from the dead king's hand. She quickly grabbed it and gripped it tightly. Now that she had the Triforce of Power, all that was needed was the other two Triforce pieces. She only hoped that Link and Zelda had managed to acquire the Triforce pieces from their opponents. Only then would they be able to make the wish to recede the floodwaters and restore Hyrule.

As for the two Zeldas, Princess Zelda was quickly evening up the battle with her younger cousin. Using more of the power of the Triforce of Wisdom, she had managed to counter Young Zelda's onslaught and was at least holding her own. The younger Zelda had fired several beams of light at her, only to have Zelda reflect them with a reflective Nayru's Love barrier. The beams collided with a shield erected by the girl and did not inflict any damage. Princess Zelda extended he hands and retaliated with a barrage of fireballs. The wave of fireballs was too great in width for the younger Zelda to dodge, so she had to rely on her shield to absorb them. Several of the balls of flame struck her shield and caused it to flare, indicating that it was taking damage. Princess Zelda grinned at the sight. She knew that the girl was having trouble coping with her newfound power. She had her. It was time to finish this fight.

The princess held out her hands and summoned a massive tidal wave of water into the atrium, the wave hovering over the head of the princess. With a single sweep of her arms, she sent the wave crashing towards Young Zelda. Since the wave was too large to be reflected by a reflective Nayru's Love barrier, the younger Zelda raised a shield and sent her own wave of water to intercept her older cousin's tidal wave. Her wave of water crashed into the tidal wave but was easily overwhelmed by the larger wave. The tidal wave came crashing down upon Young Zelda and she pushed more of her magical reserves into her shield, hoping that it would be enough to hold out against her sister's attack. Her shield flared and strained to hold back the tidal wave as the wave crashed against it and seemingly dispersed, the water spreading out to the sides in order to try to find a hole to travel through.

Seeing that the water would wash over the edges and still flood the town center, she pushed her remaining magical reserves into the shield so that it could expand to create a wall that for all intents and purposes split the town center in half. The water attempted to find way around the shield but it was stopped at every turn. The tidal wave was still strong, though, and her shield was straining greatly since it had to hold out against a massive tidal wave, as well as extend from one end of the town center to the other in order to keep the water from crushing Young Zelda, and possibly the other combatants as well. Eventually, the shield reached its breaking point and it shattered, causing the younger Zelda to fall to one knee. Fortunately, that was the exact point when the water dissipated, the magic fueling it having been used up. Still, things were looking bleak for Young Zelda since her older cousin was nearing her and had extended her hand towards her. Things, however, were about to take a turn for the better.

Midna, having witnessed the exchange, as well as seeing that Link had just acquired the Triforce of Courage and was waving towards her, extended a magical lance of Twilight magic Princess Zelda's way. The princess saw the attack coming and grinned, raising her right hand in order to intercept the lance and block the attack, or so she thought. What she did not realize until it was too late was the fact that Midna's lance was not designed to kill her, merely extract the Triforce of Wisdom. The moment the lance made contact with her hand, it drew the Triforce of Wisdom right out of the princess's hands.

Young Zelda saw the Triforce of Wisdom rise from her older cousin's hand and she was quick to fire a bolt of magic at her cousin to push her away. The bolt of magic leapt from the young girl's hand and streaked towards the princess. The bolt struck the princess squarely in the chest, the force of the impact knocking her off her feet and sending her flying several meters through the air. She crashed into the floor and skidded along the dirt ground, coming to a halt a few feet from her landing point. There she lay, not moving but the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest indicated that she was still alive.

With Princess Zelda having been defeated, the younger Zelda rushed over to the Triforce of Wisdom and grabbed it, the relic glowing a bright gold as she touched it. She then looked over at Midna, who showcased the Triforce of Power, and then at Link, who was coming over to her with the Triforce of Courage. She scanned for the location of Fallen Link and saw him lying on the ground, clutching his wrist. She noticed a severed hand lying on the ground that she suspected had once belonged to the villain.

When Midna and Link joined Young Zelda, the other two quickly held out their Triforce pieces. Young Zelda did the same and they let the ends of the Triforce pieces touch so that the Triforce could be whole once more. The moment the ends touched, the triple triangle relic glowed a bright gold and it was whole once again. Now all that needed was for the wish to be made.

Link reached out with his hand and touched the Triforce, the relic glowing as he touched it. The moment he did so, he wished with all of his heart that the floodwaters would recede from Hyrule and that the stasis field would be lifted. A high-pitched chime filled the coliseum as the relics glowed. The volume and pitch began to rise as the relics ascended into the air. After they were a few feet off the ground, there was a brilliant flash that forced the three heroes to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes, the glanced around the town square and wondered if the wish was successful, for they could not see out over the edge of the floating island.

Had the trio been in the world below, they would have witnessed the Great Sea recede. A great draining sound echoed forth over the Great Sea as the waters receded. At first, the ships that sailed the Great Sea did not notice that anything was wrong and that the sea was receding. That changed as, for them, the water suddenly vanished from beneath their vessels and their vessels were suddenly falling through the air to shatter when they hit the ground below. In reality, the naval vessels had entered the stasis field, which did not lower until the waters had fully receded, since there were soldiers loyal to Hyrule trapped beneath the sea, and were frozen in time. When the stasis field had lowered and time flowed normally once more, there was no water underneath the ships, only dry land.

The ships went crashing to the ground falling from incredible heights. The wooden ships practically shattered upon impact, the force of the impacts collapsing their superstructures and hulls. The metal ships fared a little better, being made of stronger materials. However, they still would never have been seaworthy upon striking the ground, for their hulls were all bent out of shape and there were numerous cracks, rends, and breaches in them. It also did the crews of the ships no good as the impact would cause the crewmembers to crash into the wall at high speeds, killing them, assuming the damage to the hulls did not crush them as the bulkheads compressed. Needless to say, in mere moments, the navies of Hyrule were utterly decimated, only the Hyrulean Navy that had gone with King Nohansen to the Mushroom Kingdom having survived, and when they would return, they would find that access to the homeland would be difficult, for without the sea, the soldiers onboard would have to either cross the Gerudo Desert, or some other landmass that would be heavily defended. Needless to say, it would be difficult for them to accomplish at best. At worst, they would be destroyed before ever reaching Hyrule and facing off against the soldiers loyal to the Sages.

As for the soldiers on the ground trapped inside the stasis field, when the waters had fully receded, the stasis field lowered and all of the soldiers that were trapped inside the field were free to move once more. To them, only an instant had passed and they did not know that ten years had gone by. They had been in the middle of a battle and did not skip a beat, the forces loyal to the Sages opening fire on the soldiers loyal to King Nohansen, felling many of them. King Nohansen's soldiers returned fire, killing many of their enemies, but the soldiers and Knights loyal to the Sages were too great in number and after another few volleys of fire, they forced the forces loyal to King Nohansen into full retreat. They pursued the evil Knights and soldiers and none of the enemy survived the fight.

Back up in Skyloft, the Triforce floated back towards the ground, where it touched down. Upon touching the ground, the glow died and the relic seemed to become inanimate. Link, Young Zelda, and Midna, looked over at the fallen Princess Zelda and the wounded Fallen Link, who was clutching the stump of his wrist, but seemed to not be moving much. They wondered if the Fallen Link was already dead.

"Pitiful," Young Zelda said wistfully. "They had everything. They had each other, and they decided to do this, not only to the Sages, but to Hyrule. It must be a failing of mine, but I cannot feel any sympathy for them."

"You're not the only one," Midna answered in a melancholy tone. "And I saw them kill Young Link."

Tears welled up in the young Zelda's eyes at the mention of Young Link. "I'm sorry," Midna began. "Was he a friend?"

Young Zelda nodded. "He was my best friend. If anyone deserved to live, it was him."

Link looked down at the ground wistfully, too. Those three had taken Hyrule so far down the dark path. The kingdom was in shambles and even with the floodwaters and stasis field gone, or perhaps because of it, things were likely to get even worse before they got better. Many people were now without work. Hyrule's military was now virtually non-existent, save for the resistance soldiers that had been trapped inside the stasis field, and there were likely still soldiers away from Hyrule that had been loyal to King Nohansen. They would surely seek revenge for the death of their king. Link was about to turn and try to find his way out of Skyloft when he heard the sound behind him. Evidently, Midna and Young Zelda had heard it too, for they each turned to seek the source of the sound. Each of their eyes went wide as they saw that the source of the sound was none other than Princess Zelda, a yellow triangle floating above her head. Her clothes were disheveled and there were numerous burn marks on her body, along with some cuts, but there was also a gold outline to her body, indicating that she still had some fight left in her.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" she cackled. "Did you really think you'd beat me that easily? I didn't just have the Triforce, fools. I also had the Light Force, the very Light Force I took from my daughter as she lay dying inside the castle! And now, I'll destroy you all with it! Come with me to my father's secret dimension!"

With that, a dark dome of energy emanated from Princess Zelda and spread out from around her. The dome of energy quickly approached Midna, who attempted to back away but could not before it washed over her. Link rushed over to her, raising his Mirror Shield in the hope that by using his body and shield as a shield for her that she could survive. Still, it was not the case and as the energy wave washed over her, they vanished from the grounds. As for Zelda, she instinctively touched the Triforce on the ground and the relic whisked her away from Skyloft, depositing her just outside the structure. Looking next to her, she also found the Four Sword being deposited next to her as well. She then looked into the sky and saw the dome of energy vanish. Extending her sight, she looked inside the coliseum and saw that nothing remained inside at all. All traces of Link, Midna, her cousin, her cousin's lover, and her uncle had vanished.

Link and Midna found themselves inside a dark area that they did not immediately recognize. Glancing around, they thought that they were inside a cave until they saw that they were standing on a platform suspended in midair. On the platform with them was Princess Zelda, the wounded Fallen Link, along with the body of King Nohansen. The duo scanned their surroundings and noticed a shimmering field around the perimeter of the platform they strongly suspected was some sort of barrier. It was obvious to them that they were not in the same realm as Hyrule. Princess Zelda looked over at them, grinning.

"This realm was a secret realm discovered by my father over a decade ago," the princess told the duo. "He kept all sorts of useful artifacts and relics here, too. This shall be your final resting place. And I will make it an eternal monument to those who would defy the Hyrulean Royal Family!"

With that, she used the power of the golden triangle above her head to power a blast of light that was intended to be used to destroy the two of them. This prompted Midna to push her remaining magic into a ball of Twilight Magic in order to counter Princess Zelda's newfound power, but the wounded Fallen Link had other ideas. With his remaining hand, he drew his Magic Rod and prepared to unleash a massive cone of flame upon Link and Midna, hoping to burn them alive. Link countered by drawing his bow and a Light Arrow. He took aim at the wounded villain and once he had drawn a bead on him, he let fly with his Light Arrow. The Light Arrow streaked through the air and hit its mark. The moment the arrow struck Fallen Link, it exploded into a ring of light, the villain giving out a cry of agony and defeat in the process. The ring of light congealed into a number of balls of light and were drawn back into the villain as if he were some sort of black hole. Upon striking the villain once more, the villain was completely annihilated. By the time the light had dissipated, there was no trace of Fallen Link's remains, his body being completely annihilated by the Light. All that was left was Princess Zelda.

As for the princess, she extended her hands and unleashed her massive ball of light on the former Twilight Queen, forcing Midna to fire her own blast in order to counter it. The two magical attacks collided with each other directly in the middle of the platform, each one stopping in its tracks as it collided with the other. Despite possessing the Light Force, the power of the Light blast was not overpowering Midna's Twilight blast. At best, they were dead even, and at worst, Midna's ball looked like it was beginning to take control of the blast-o-war, for her ball of Twilight Magic was pushing back Princess Zelda's ball of Light magic.

Princess Zelda's eyes went wide with shock. "No!" she screamed, incredulous at the fact that her ball of light could be overwhelmed by Midna, who looked to have used up the powers of the Fused Shadows against King Nohansen, for she had not transformed into a spider-like beast in their battle.

Midna made no response as she continued to push her ball of magic against Princess Zelda's. Still, with each passing second, the outcome of the battle looked to be more and more certain. Despite her best efforts, the princess could not overwhelm Midna's attack. She pushed more power into the ball of light, managing to stop the advance of the magical attacks, only for Midna to do likewise with her own ball of magic, allowing her to retake control of the fight.

Eventually, Princess Zelda ran out of time, for the combined magical attacks were right upon her. She pushed one last ounce of energy into the ball, but it was not enough. The ball made contact with her and exploded. A wave of light washed over Princess Zelda upon the detonation of the ball, causing her to cry out in agony for a brief second before she fell to the ground, dead. As she fell to the ground, though, her hand opened, revealing a strange metallic ball, which rolled out onto the ground. The moment it did so, a field of energy erupted from it and spread across the entire platform. Link and Midna could see a grin frozen on Princess Zelda's face, the bomb-like ball being her last act of defiance. Once the field extended over them, they saw the clouds above freeze as if they were completely frozen. There they were, an eternal monument to the battle between good and evil.

Back in Hyrule, Young Zelda was making her way back to the newly restored Hyrule Castle Town. She kept the completed Triforce in her hand while she traveled so that no one would know that she possessed the relic. She wanted to take it to the Temple of Time so it could return to the Sacred Realm as quickly as possible.

As she arrived just outside of Hyrule Castle Town, several balls of light appeared before her, each one in the color of a certain Sage. There were then several brilliant flashes of light and the balls of light were replaced by the Sages, at the head of the Sages was Rauru.

"Greetings Queen Zelda," Rauru stated plainly as he bowed before her.

Zelda's eyes went wide with shock. "Queen?" she gasped.

The other Sages nodded. "With the death of King Nohansen, his daughter, her lover, and most of the nobles in Hyrule, you are the one with the greatest claim to the throne," Rauru answered.

"But I'm only twelve!" the girl protested.

"You will have guidance," Rauru assured her.

"But I never wanted to rule Hyrule. I _don't_ want to rule."

"And that may be what makes you the best fit for Hyrule at this moment," Rauru answered with a kind smile.

"Well, will you at least take the Triforce?" Zelda almost begged. "As much as I may grow to like power, I don't want to be tempted by it."

"Sure," Rauru answered, reaching out and touching Zelda's right hand. When he did so, there was a brilliant flash of light and then the Triforce mark appeared on Rauru's hand with all three triangles filled in and glowing. He then looked at Zelda and said, "Come, my queen. There is much to discuss."

Then, the Sages took Zelda with them as they made their way to the Temple of Time in order to begin trying to put Hyrule back together again.

The next few weeks were very busy for Zelda and the Sages. The first thing they had to do was rebuild Hyrule Castle Town, for it had suffered a great deal of damage in the previous civil war. In addition, debris falling from the ships over it that had been sunk in the harbor of Hyrule Castle Island had also inflicted significant damage. While the wood from the ships could be used to fix some of the houses and places of business, some houses and businesses were completely lost. Workers went about their tasks, building houses and places of business in the town as overseers made certain that the construction was up to standard. Soldiers and good Knights of Hyrule also patrolled the town, along with a contingent of soldiers and Knights being stationed along the wall surrounding the town, the young queen and the Sages wanting to make sure that the town was adequately protected. They wanted to be ready for when the soldiers that were loyal to King Nohansen returned to try to take over Hyrule and seek revenge for the death of their king.

Next came the cleanup and trash removal all throughout the rest of the kingdom. The receding of the waters and the fall of the stasis field meant that hundreds of ships had fallen from the sky and crashed onto the ground, many of them shattering upon impact. Needless to say, there was a great mess inside Hyrule Field as well as in several small villages that had once dotted the field. More importantly, there was the burial of the crews of the ships, as well as the removal of the metal ships, since they could become hideouts for bandits and brigands. Countless workers went about the task of removing the garbage, burying the dead, even giving them funerals despite the war crimes that many of them had taken part in, as well as salvaging the villages that were still salvageable.

Finally, and possibly the most important item on the agenda, was the defense of Hyrule. There had already been few soldiers left in the rebellion after the war had ended. Now that Hyrule's home military was destroyed, these soldiers were all that was left to defend the nation. Indeed, reports were already coming in that the remnants of the military that were loyal to King Nohansen, had already heard of his death and were returning from the Mushroom Kingdom to try to avenge the fall of their king. The only piece of good news was the fact that they were returning piecemeal, in taskforces of five or six ships at most, rather than returning under a unified banner. It was relatively easy for the defenses on shore to take down the ships that were attempting to return. But that would not last. Eventually, they would unite under a noble, or be forced to join said noble, and he or she would launch an all out assault on Hyrule, eager to try to take the throne from the girl and the Sages.

Zelda had already put out the call for every able-bodied male to train in arms and join the military or a defense militia but it would be very difficult. While she did have the Sages backing her up, it would still be a difficult battle, and that was before dealing with any other external threats to the kingdom. The Koopa Kingdom was still out there, and if Bowser the Great was half as powerful as rumors indicated, he would be a dangerous enemy and it would only be a matter of time before he set his sights on Hyrule. But first thing was first: dealing with the surviving nobles that King Nohansen had taken with him to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Zelda had begun by gathering all of the remaining missile ships and other seaworthy ships that were battle ready and crewing them with volunteers, both in the form of sailors and marines. Their mission would be to try and hold the line against the hundreds of ships that would likely be returning to Hyrule. Next up was to reinforce the defense lines on the new shore of Hyrule. Zelda's ability to warp materiel and items from one location to another was instrumental in allowing them to form defensive lines along the shore and making Hyrule a difficult target to attack from the ocean. However, the coastline was long, and there were relatively few cannons, so there would still be places where troops could land and attempt to move in towards Hyrule.

In order to try to counter that potential strategy, Zelda had as many rebels that knew how to operate either motorboats or tanks as possible use what remained of the tanks of Hyrule and have them supplement the forces on the shores, as well as be positioned to run interdiction on the ground forces that managed to land and get past the first line of defenses. They, of course, would be escorted by infantry soldiers to make sure that other infantry would not outmaneuver them or even destroy said tanks with explosive weapons.

Finally, Zelda decreed that each village and people start maintaining their own defense forces. This was the one rule that met with the greatest amount of opposition. Some villages that were aligned with the rebels did not want other villages that had flourished under the rule of King Nohansen to be able to form their own defense forces since that would potentially allow for militias and resistance forces loyal to the nobles to attack Hyrule's forces that were loyal to Zelda and the Sages. Both Zelda and the Sages knew the risk, but they suspected that it would be better to allow these militias and defense forces to form and fight with the main forces of Hyrule since, without them, they would likely be greatly outnumbered by the military forces that were coming back to likely try to claim the throne and the defenses on the shores would only go so far in slowing down any advance.

Still, as she sat at her desk and Rauru was checking her work as well as reading up on some reports, himself, she could not help but think that the worst was behind her. The Sages had been restored, the Dark Sages were dead, and despite the number of troops that were coming to assault Hyrule to avenge King Nohansen's loss, they had few magicians, and those that they did have would be overwhelmed by the Sages' powers as well as the magicians that were loyal to the rebels and the true ideals of Hyrule. Hyrule had turned a corner and, while there were still difficult times ahead, if they stayed the course, the kingdom would eventually return to its full former glory.

As she went to rise, she left the stockade where she was being tutored by Rauru and headed outside and get a breath of fresh air. When she did so, she looked up and examined the wall that had been erected around Hyrule Castle Town. Soldiers now lined the top of wall, as did cannons and rocket launchers. She gave a relaxed smile as she examined the troops and weaponry stationed there. She hoped that all of the precautions that were being taken would be enough to weather the storm that was coming. Still, she had faith that they would hold against the darkness.

Just as she turned to head back inside to continue her studies, she heard a voice cry out from behind her. "Excuse me miss, can you help me?"

She turned around at the sound of the voice, at first wondering why a boy would refer to her as 'miss' when she realized that she was merely wearing a white tunic with blue pants and, thus, would not be recognized as royalty, much less as the young Queen of Hyrule. When she turned, she saw that the voice belonged to a ten year old boy with short blonde hair and blue eyes. Her eyes went wide with shock as she saw that the boy wore a green tunic with a green floppy hat and white leggings or pants, she could not tell since the tunic covered part of the boy's legs. He looked just like a ten year old Link. It took her an extra second to register that he had asked her a question.

"Sorry, may I ask your name?"

"Link," the boy answered.

"Oh, are you by any chance related to a boy who passed away ten years ago?"

"Some have said that I was. I'm from Faron Province," the boy volunteered.

"Sorry, where are my manners?" Zelda answered. "You asked me something before. What was it?"

"I was wondering if you knew where I could go to sign up for helping defend Hyrule from the corrupt nobles?" Link answered.

"Aren't you a little young to join the military?" Zelda asked, taking measure of the boy's stature.

"Well you're in the Castle Town," came the Young Link's answer.

"That's because I happen to be the queen," Zelda answered. "I'm Zelda."

"_The_ Zelda?" Young Link asked, his eyes going wide with wonder.

Zelda gave a friendly nod.

"That's great! You're just the person I wanted to see!" Young Link exclaimed. "I'd like to join the fight."

Zelda looked at him skeptically, hardly believing that a boy would want to fight in a war, even if he _did_ look just like a Young Link. "There hasn't been a fight yet," she answered. "Besides, you're too young to join the military. You have to be sixteen to join officially."

Young Link frowned in disappointment. "Well, could I join unofficially?"

Zelda faced him, a melancholy look crossing her face. "You do know that the last hero your age with your name that fought against an evil force died, right? That Link was a close friend of mine. I don't want that to be your fate, too."

"But don't you need all the help you can get?" Young Link asked. "Let me fight, if not as part of the military, than unofficially as your friend and a friend of the Sages!" he insisted.

Zelda considered what she should do. She took stock of the boy and looked at him straight in the eyes. She could see his courage and his determination. She then smiled. "You'll have to bring your own equipment."

Young Link produced a single-handed sword that looked to have some gold patches on it. Zelda instantly recognized it as the Gilded Sword that her Link had used before gaining the Master Sword. He also showed a metal shield that looked like a Hylian Shield sized for a child. "I've also got a bow and arrow and a Hookshot."

All Zelda could do was give a friendly smile. "You really want to join the fight, huh?" she began.

Young Link nodded eagerly.

"Come with me," Zelda said, motioning for him to follow her. "If you're gonna join the fight, there's someone you should meet."

She then proceeded to take him inside the stockade building to introduce him to Rauru. There was much that they needed to discuss, and much that the new hero needed to learn if he was to be at his best for the upcoming fight.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30:

Meanwhile, back in the unknown realm, inside the stasis field that contained Link, Midna, and the dying Princess Zelda, what could have been centuries or even millennia for the outside world, was only a few passing moments for them. Not wanting to risk Princess Zelda reviving and attacking them, or some other realm, possibly even Hyrule once more, he took out a Light Arrow and fired it at her, praying that it would purge an evil from her but knowing in his heart that it would, instead, annihilate her. Just as he feared, when the arrow struck the princess, it exploded into a sphere of light that expanded forth, then congealed into a number of balls of light that were then drawn back into Zelda's body, where they detonated and the princess was engulfed in light. There, her body disintegrated and after a few seconds, there was no trace of the evil princess anymore.

Once Princess Zelda was dead, the shimmering barrier vanished and the flow of clouds return to normal. They figured that the stasis bomb's effect deactivated, likely due to the fact that Princess Zelda's body had been completely annihilated. As they stood outside, they looked around at the scenery. Centuries, at least, must have gone by, for the buildings that had once made up the city off in the distance now looked to be ruined and decrepit. There was nothing for them here. Perhaps Princess Zelda did, indeed, have the last laugh in a way. They were completely and utterly alone. Still, they had accomplished their objective and had managed to help restore Hyrule and save it from the evil rule of King Nohansen and his family.

They scanned his surroundings and saw that they were in a city that was in complete ruin. Rubble lined the area and what looked to be frames of buildings could be seen in the distance. They did not recognize any of the geography, for they seemed to be in the middle of the ruins of a city that was built on pains. Seeing that there was nothing to be gained by simply standing around, Link and Midna turned to follow the trail deeper into the city to see if there was any chance that there could be a way out of this dimension.

When they turned to follow the path, they immediately saw the girl that Link had first seen in the Temple of Light and that had been following him for a while standing not too far away. "You," Link blurted. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you," the girl answered almost giddily. "Follow me."

"Who is that?" Midna asked.

"Someone who can gives even the Golden Goddesses pause," Link answered, causing Midna's eyes to go wide as she turned to see the girl smiling kindly. "I don't know her name, but she's clearly on the side of good."

"If you want to get out of this dimension, follow me."

The girl then walked down the path that went into the ruined city. Seeing no better alternative, the duo followed after her. They followed her throughout the city, staying close to her as she weaved her way through the ruins, being careful to not let the scenery cause his gaze to wander, for he knew that if they did not focus on the girl, they would be forever lost in the maze of ruins.

Eventually, the girl made her way into a ruined building that looked to be on the verge of collapse. Link stopped at the entrance, wondering what the girl was thinking. After a few seconds, the girl reappeared at the entrance of the building and looked at them seriously. To Link, it was almost as if she were glaring at them in annoyance. "If you want to get out of here and return to Hylia, follow me. The path back home lies inside this building."

"Why are you helping us?" Link asked. "Are you a servant of the goddesses or a goddess?"

"No," came the girl's response, much harsher than Link had expected. She was not amused. "My mission is to give you the opportunity to get out of this realm and return to the world of Hylia. However, it will be your decision as to whether or not you decide to return. I will tell you that things have changed in Hylia, and Hyrule, but some has remained the same. You were trapped in stasis for centuries. Hylia has advanced in that time. It will be an unfamiliar world to you."

"Are you trying to tell us not to go?" Link asked.

"That will be your decision," the girl answered. "I am merely telling you everything you need to know to make your decision with your eyes open."

Link and Midna nodded and then followed the girl into the ruined building. When they entered, the duo stopped and stared at their surroundings. They saw a variety of drawings on the walls and ancient statues. The statues appeared to depict Hylians and other beings. They quickly scanned the surroundings to see where the girl was. They found her running down a corridor. they followed her down the corridor until it came to a dead end. At the end of the corridor, the girl stopped and turned to them. "The path that leads back to Hylia is on the tile in front of me. Step on it to go to the Dark World. There, you will find yourself in a strange area that will lead you to a green pipe that will take you back to Hylia."

The heroes then stepped forward and stepped onto the floor in front of the girl. The floor then fell away and they fell into darkness, Link giving off a brief cry of surprise. The floor then closed around the hole after he had fallen. "Good luck," the girl wished as she vanished from the scene. At least, there would be no enemies for them to deal with, at least none that would be a match for them.

The duo reappeared in a dark area that looked to be suspended in the air. They found themselves on a relatively narrow tile walkway that was still wide enough for them to walk on without too much difficulty. They looked to be standing on a platform, or series of platforms, suspended in midair. They heard sounds emanating from the platforms, indicating that something seemed to be powering them but Link had no idea how they could seemingly move on their own. Looking out over the darkness, he found what looked to be monstrous stalactites and stalagmites but Link was not certain if they were real or illusory. Looking around the area, the duo proceeded to make their way towards a series of blue moving platforms. As they got closer to the moving platforms, though, a jet of flame shot out from a gray flamethrower, prompting them to come to a stop. The flamethrower looked to be mechanical. They waited for a second for the flames to die down and allow them to pass. Once the flames died, they crossed the area and proceeded to make their way across the platforms, neither of them saying a word despite the strange nature of the machines that they saw in this realm.

The platforms carried the duo to another gray platform that rose into a steep incline. They made their way up the incline and were quickly met with another jet of flame. Once the flames died down, Link and Midna ran forward and then made a U-turn and went up the second incline before the flamethrower shot again.

At the top of the incline, they came across a series of platforms revolving around the center of a wheel. Link knew that he would have to time his jumps perfectly in order to cross the gap. He waited for a platform to come close and he jumped onto it. He let it carry him across the gap until he came to an ovular platform. Midna quickly followed him, floating over to the platform effortlessly.

On this platform stood three small brown mushroom-like enemies that he had ever seen before. The hero jumped to the platform, which caused the mushroom-like enemies, called Goombas, to take notice and jump up in surprise. One of them was precariously close to Link and went to charge him. Link promptly drew his sword and dispatched the Goomba with a single swing of his sword. Link was surprised. These enemies were just as pathetic as Chus. As for the other two, Link was far enough away that he was able to make it to the small, thin wooden bridge to his right before the other Goombas caught up to them. While the Goombas were no real threat to him, he took no pleasure in killing so he decided to evade the enemies rather than fight them, followed closely by Midna, who took no action against the Goombas.

The wooden bridge took them to a long, turquoise platform that had several small pillars on it only slightly taller than him. Orbiting these pillars were silver balls with faces and electricity crackling about them called Amps. The hero, knowing that the Amps would be deadly if they touched him or even his metallic shield, deftly made his way across the platform, managing to avoid the Amps as he came to the end of the platform after it curved, revealing a wooden plank that jutted out from a gray platform only to retract once more. He waited for Midna to arrive, which she did, having made her way past the Amps without trouble.

Once Midna had joined him, he looked ahead at the platform. From what he could tell of the size of the platform, though, it looked hollow on the inside and he suspected that the wooden platform would provide footing on the other side as well, allowing him to cross the chasm. He proceeded to jump onto the wooden plank-like platform, and then onto the gray one before it retracted. Looking out over the scenery, he clearly saw another gray platform that led to two moving platforms that would lead him to the next step in his journey.

Link jumped down onto the wooden plank and then to the gray platform. He then went to the two wooden platforms circling each other and rode them to a relatively large stone platform. Looking back, he saw Midna floating across the platform and wished that he had her ability to float through the air.

On this platform, a single Goomba initiated an attack on the hero but was quickly dispatched with a single swipe of his sword. From here, he turned to his left and saw two blue platforms that looked to be on seesaws. He jumped to the first one letting his weight tilt it until he felt safe being able to cross it and make it to the next platform. He crossed it and managed to jump onto the next platform. He waited for it to tilt before leaping up to a stone block. Once he did so, he could see a green pipe off in the distance. There was a steep blue hill he would have to climb, but he saw a purple block with an exclamation point on it. He figured it was a switch. The problem, though, would be how to get to the switch, for there were no Clawshot targets, nor any platforms leading up to the switch, save for ledges that were too high for him to jump up to and pull himself up. He looked over at Midna, who had just joined him, and he told her, "Go to the green pipe. I'll take the long way up."

Midna nodded and replied, "If you need any help, let me know."

Link nodded as she floated over to the pipe and examined the situation. He then jumped down to the stone platform, where he was immediately accosted by two Goombas. He dealt with the Goombas with contemptuous ease and examined the situation. He soon saw that the stone platforms above him were too high for him to jump to. However, it was no real problem for Midna, who upon seeing him looking for a way to jump up the platforms quickly formed several Twilight targets for his Clawshots. He then drew out his Clawshots and made his way up the platforms, letting the Clawshots pull him up to the purple switch.

As soon as he made it to the purple switch, Link stepped on it and pressed it down. A clicking sound emanated throughout the area as the steep, slippery incline in front of him immediately transformed into giant steps. However, the sound of ticking in the background meant that he only had a limited amount of time to climb the steps before they transformed back into a slide. There looked to be four steps in all, but they were large. He would have to jump to climb them, but they were not too high for him to reach, though. He climbed them as quickly as possible, keeping his ears open to the ticking. As he reached the next to last step, he heard the ticking pick up in tempo, indicating that he did not have much time to reach the top. Still, he was in no real danger of running out of time and reached the top, running off the last step only a second before the steps turned back into a slippery slide. Once he reached the top, he joined Midna, who jokingly asked, "What took you so long?"

Link smiled but gave no answer as he stared at the large green pipe in front of him sitting on a round stone platform. Remembering the words of the girl, he made his way to the pipe, believing their journey to nearly be over, followed closely by Midna. He then climbed up to it and saw that it led downwards, something that surprised him since his initial entry to this world was through a trap door. Still, with nowhere else to go, he jumped down the pipe.

Link fell a long way but the fall was controlled and he was not traveling all that fast. He touched down onto the ground with no injury to speak of. After a few seconds, Midna descended from the pipe's opening and landed softly next to him. Glancing around at his surroundings, he could tell that they were still in the Dark World. However, they were standing on a large round platform with no guardrails that was surrounded by eight spiked balls. Looking up and around the scene, they could not find the path they had used to get to this platform. In the middle of the platform, though, was what looked to be a darkened star with two eyes. There was a sparkle about the star, even though the hero felt as if the star contained little to no power. A feeling came over Link and he realized that the star was his path home. Turning to Midna, he found that she was likely thinking the same thing. In order to make sure that they both would be able to use it to get home, Midna faded into the hero's shadow. Then, wasting no time, the hero approached the star, reached out with his hand and touched it. He immediately felt himself being carried away from the Dark World, being led to locations unknown, similar in fashion to the warps at the ends of dungeons that he had gone through during the Invasion of Twilight. It was an exhilarating feeling and eventually, he felt himself rising quickly before entering a dark tunnel.

Link emerged from the dark tunnel and found himself jumping out of what seemed to be a trap door. He deftly landed on the ground and examined their surroundings. He was inside a hallway lined with a red carpet. He was definitely inside a building of some sort. If he had to guess, he would have guessed that it was a castle, but it was not any style of castle that he was familiar with. Looking back, he saw picture of a Human woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a pink dress with long white gloves, and also what looked to be a crown. He turned around and saw a door in the distance. He made his way over to the door. As he approached, though, he saw that the door did not have a handle. He was ready to try to push it open when instead, the doors split apart and slid open, granting him entry to another area of the building.

The hero stepped out and found himself standing on a floor with a checkered pattern. Once he stepped out into the hall, Midna emerged from his shadow and looked around. Her eyes went wide at the scene before her

"Where are we?" she almost stammered in question.

"I don't know," Link answered. "But it looks to be a castle of some sort."

Looking out over the area, he appeared to be standing on a mezzanine of a castle hall, for there was a set of stairs that led down to what looked to be the main level. The two made their way towards the stairs and looked to the left. There, they found a door with a lock. They did not know if it was locked or not, but they did not want to intrude unless they really had to. They then made their way down the steps and saw an area with a sun mark on the floor. Just ahead was a set of double doors that looked to be the exit to the castle. Link noticed that they were small, though, and did not resemble any gate that he would have expected to be the entrance to a castle.

He was about to head to the exit when he saw the doors open. As the doors opened, in came a human woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a pink dress. He immediately recognized her as the woman in the painting from the room he had appeared from. She was flanked by two small humanoid beings with white mushroom caps with red spots that he would later learn were called Toads. As soon as the trio saw Link and Midna, they froze. "What the…how did they get in here?" the Toad on the princess's left asked.

"I don't know," the Toad on the right replied. "But we should get Princess Peach out of here now."

"Wait," Link called to them, raising his hand, showing that he had no weapons in his hand. "We're not here to hurt you."

"Who are you and how did you get here?" Princess Peach asked, stepping forward cautiously. She then looked at him more appraisingly and took a step back in surprise. Still, she did not let on what she suspected and waited for Link to answer her question.

"My name is Link," the hero answered.

"And I'm Midna," the former Twilight Queen answered.

"Link?" Princess Peach asked curiously. "_The_ Link? From Hyrule?"

"I'm from Hyrule, but that's not where I was coming from when I came here."

"That can't be possible," Peach answered. "Link is in Hyrule right now. We just came back from a meeting with the King of Hyrule. He was standing right there beside him. He was only a kid, though."

"Could he have warped here?" the Toad on Peach's right asked. "Link has magic."

"But I don't have magic," Link told them.

"Where did you come from?" Peach asked, changing the subject.

"Originally, I came from Ordon Village, just outside of Hyrule. However, I arrived here from the ruins of an unknown ruined city that an evil Zelda had teleported us to during a battle, and later from an unknown dark area with platforms."

"And I come from the Twilight Realm," Midna answered.

"Did you say an evil Zelda?" Peach asked.

"Yes," Link answered, nodding towards Peach. "Why?"

"Because it has been seven centuries since the Hyrulean Civil War," Peach answered. "And that was three hundred years or so after we lost all contact with the Twilight Realm."

Link's eyes went wide. He had been thrown a thousand years into the future from his own time. Upon thinking about it, though, he should not have been surprised, and he quickly remembered the girl stating that he had been in stasis just as long. Still, he suspected that the automatic door he had gone through was the least of the changes in the world.

"I don't mean to be rude, but is there any way we could get back to Hyrule soon?" Link asked. "I need to know how it has changed."

"That may take a while," Peach answered. "While Hyrule is not hostile with any nation at the moment, it is still relatively insular. Just a few years after the Hyrulean Civil War came the Great War, which damaged many countries in the world even further. After the war, Hyrule became more insular as it worked to repair the damage done. It is only now beginning to open up to the outside world once more. Still, don't know much about what is going on in there. You need a passport in order to enter into the country and the people there would not likely recognize you at the moment. I could get the ball rolling, but it will likely be at least a week or two before you can enter the country legally. It looks as if you'll probably have to stay with us for a time." Peach then turned to the Toads next to her and told them, "Have the staff prepare guest rooms for Link and Midna. Make sure they're properly furnished but also give them an older style touch, too. Things have changed in a thousand years so I'd like to give them time to acclimate." She then turned to the duo and continued. "As guests of my castle, I'll have to give you passes, but that won't take too long." She went up a little closer and said in a quieter voice, "I've heard of your feats. You're impressive."

As she was talking, one of the Toads asked, "But what about the dinner with the Mario Brothers tonight? You've been wanting this for quite a while."

Peach then looked at Link and turned back to the Toads, answering, "Tell the staff that they'll have two more mouths to feed. After all, this Link is a legendary hero, just like the Mario Brothers. And Midna is a friend of his, and may well be a hero, too. They should all be celebrated."

With that, Peach took Link and Midna up the stairs and to the main throne room so they could each get a pass for the castle and a card that would allow them to roam throughout Toad Town freely. As Link and Midna entered, Peach asked them, "What types of foods do you like? I want your stay here to be as comfortable as possible. In addition, once you get your ID cards, you'll be able to go anywhere you want inside the Mushroom Kingdom, as well as any of the shops."

"Thank you," Link answered. "As for what we like, we'll take whatever you're serving your friends. We don't wish to impose on you."

Midna nodded in agreement. Peach then nodded and led them to their guest rooms. While Link wanted to get back to Hyrule as quickly as possible in order to see what changes had occurred, he was happy that the princess was going out of her way to be kind to him and Midna. As he entered his room, he saw that it was furnished in a way that made it more like it was fit for king. It had a plush bed, a large sofa, a table with two chairs, a bookshelf filled with a large number of books, and a screen on a wall that Link did not know was a television screen that was designed to provide entertainment. He would have to ask any staff what the TV did later. Right now, he just simply went over to the bed and relaxed, wanting to rest after all the fighting he had been through. He would read up on the history of the world later. All that mattered right now was that he was back. He also knew that Midna likely felt the same as she went into her own guest quarters and went to rest in the bed.

Meanwhile, back in Smash World, Ganondorf had been looking over various computer screens of various worlds. One of them showed Humans fighting each other. Another showed the picture of what looked to be a pink ball with stubby feet and arms fighting some sort of monster. The former Gerudo King, now Subspace General, gave a sigh. As he was about to rise, though, his eyes caught one of the monitors showing the picture of Princess Peach's castle. In the picture, he saw Peach, as well as some Toads. In the background, though, he saw Link and Midna going through a door in a castle. His eyes went wide with excitement at the sight. His face then twisted into a grin. "He's back."


End file.
